Homunculus Gotham
by Redtailedfox
Summary: What happens to the homunculus who "die"? Where do they go? Gotham City.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer- I, of course, do not own Batman Begins or Dark Knight or Fullmetal Alchemist.

A.N. Sorry if this is a little short, I'll try to make the next one's longer.

Where was he? Greed's skull pounded unpleasantly, and his hands shook as he lifted his hands to touch his head. A sticky, thick substance clung to his fingers, and he brought it before his eyes to examine. Blood. The pain in his head increased tenfold and he bit back of scream of pain and confusion. _Why wasn't it healing?_ Had Father done something to him? Had that kid- Ling? He thought back, and it was something of a struggle, for his thoughts were indistinct and hazy around the edges. He remembered betraying Father a third time- turning his body into the weakest of charcoals using his powers of carbonization that Father himself had granted him. He remembered Father's fury, though Father had purged himself of Wrath, Father ripping him away. He remembered the faces- Ed and Ling and the rest of them. He remembered wanting them, a moment of unbearable greed, wanting friends. And getting them. Then he remembered a light, a big, blue light that surged through his rapidly decaying body, simultaneously consuming the world around him. A sensation of falling- only for a second- and hitting his head against what he presumed to be ground.

Greed closed his eyes. His head throbbed, but not quite a badly now as before. His eyelids seemed to weigh a hundred tons. Before he lapsed into unconsciousness, Greed heard a faint tapping sound on the ground in front of him, growing steadily louder. He managed to tear his eyelids open for a split second. A pair of homunculus purple eyes swam in front of him, blurring even as he watched.

"Well, well," came a familiar voice, cool and melodic. "Envy told me you'd had a new form," Lust continued, her voice distorting, warping as if she were speaking through a mouthful of water, "I didn't expect it to be the one you wore _here_, though." And then Greed closed his eyes, and unconsciousness took him over.

He awoke again, and when he did, the pain in his head was gone, but his limbs felt heavy, his body hot and sweaty. _A fever._ Though Greed, as a homunculus had no memory of such a thing, Ling had had several. He recalled taunting Ling for his fragile human immune system, laughing the sicknesses that had once infested Ling's body. Ironic. Testing himself, he focused on drawing his shield around his hand, and was gratified and relieved when he felt his fingers transform into diamond-hard claws.

The effort of using his shield in his weakened state stunned him, and he felt his shield drop, his hand becoming soft and human once again. _Human._ Was that why he couldn't heal? Was he mortal? Was that Father's final punishment on his traitorous homunculi? Making him human, stealing away his cherished immortal form, trapping him in breakable flesh and a weak body?

Greed chose not to think on it. Instead, he tried to open his eyes, bit by bit. It was hard at first, but Greed was rewarded by his progress by a fuzzy kaleidoscope of color which gradually solidified into a more tangible picture. Closest to his eyes was red; it lay beside his cheek and sloped steadily downwards. By the rough texture beneath him, Greed presumed he was lying on some sort of sofa, or an especially long chair. In the same room, directly in front of him, was a thick carpet, and a white table decorated with a mess of- Greed smiled in spite of himself- ladies magazines. There was a small opening where a door should have been a few yards away, and beyond that, a small white kitchen. Two people- he couldn't see their faces- sat on the table, seemingly oblivious to Greed. There was a small burst of static, and a self-assured male voice began talking. Greed assumed the people in the kitchen were listening to a radio.

"-City still mourning the loss of D.A. Harvey Dent, presumably killed by the Batman in a-" The man's voice abruptly vanished. A sigh came from the kitchen.

"You knew him, didn't you, Lust?"

Greed froze. Lust! Wasn't she dead? Had _she_ been the one to do this to him? He doubted it. However, there was no telling what Lust might _do _to him, now that he was a weakened human, at her mercy. And that other voice… it was feminine and young, with a playful cadence. It sounded almost like the voice of Envy's favorite form… but… Envy _was_ dead. Wasn't he?

"That's right. It's a shame too," Lust noted, although Greed thought she didn't seem to down. She continued, "He was certainly brave- especially for a human."

"It really is too bad," Envy replied gleefully. He gave a short, maniac laugh. A soft thud. Then- "Ow! Lust! Hey!"

Resisting the urge to snicker at Envy's predicament, Greed instead wondered what he was doing here. Two of his homunculus siblings- ones he believed dead- now had their traitor brother with them in a form that was highly susceptible to damage and pain. Did they mean to keep him here to torture him? Greed moaned. Both people turned around.

Two graceful, slender bodies, and two sets of purple eyes stared at him. It was Envy and Lust. No doubt about it. They both wore different outfits then their typical black clothes. Lust's hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she wore a dark grey suit and skirt. Envy had abandoned his usual flamboyant garments in favor of a colorful shirt and pale blue pants- but Greed would have recognized his brother and sister anywhere. But… he focused in on Lust. Where her Oroborus tattoo had once sat, now lay only pale flesh. And their eyes…. Although the purple hue had remained unchanged, their pupils, formerly as slanted as cats, were now round and human. Confusion flooded through Greed's illness-poisoned blood like a surge of electricity.

Lust walked through the doorway, stopping in front of the table, and gestured for Envy.

Dancing forward, Envy flashed a wicked smile in Greed's direction. "Looking well, Greed," Envy leered.

"Looking alive," Greed managed, though his throat felt tight and his words came out rough and hoarse. "Thought you two were supposed to be dead."

Envy's eyes tightened. "Wouldn't you like that?" he snapped.

"As a matter of fact-" Greed began.

"Be quiet." Lust commanded. She reached over and pressed her hand- ungloved for once, and wonderfully cool- to Greed brow. "Still feverish," she murmured, glaring dangerously at Greed's forehead.

"Don't worry, Lust," Envy reassured her, "We all got fevers after coming through."

"Coming through _where_?" Greed growled.

Lust ignored him, and picked up a thin, oddly shaped white device capped with silver. Was it a type of torture device? "Open your mouth," she ordered.

Well, if they _were_ going to torture him, Greed certainly wasn't going to make it easy on their parts. He clamped his mouth shut, and Lust sighed, sounding exasperated. She yanked his jaw down- tired and sick as Greed was- he was no match for her, and stuck the item in her hand under his tongue. She forced his mouth shut, and said "Keep it under your tongue."

With a feeling of irritated defeat, Greed obeyed, and noticed with relief that- although the device was uncomfortable- it was hardly painful. After a few second- much to his surprise- the device _beeped_ and Lust yanked it out.

"Your fever's gone down, but it's still above normal," she told him. She set the odd machine down on the table, and Greed watched both it and his homunculus siblings warily.

Lust sighed again, and checked her watch. "I don't have time for this," she informed Envy, "I have to get to work. As it is, I'm probably going to be late."

Envy shrugged, then turned and smiled maliciously at Greed's obvious bewilderment. "Confused?" he taunted.

Lust stared hard at Envy for a second. "Can I trust you won't do anything rash?" she asked him.

A moment of hesitation, then Envy rolled his eyes. "Sure, sure."

"Good." Lust began walking out of the room. Once in the kitchen, though, she twisted around. "And Envy?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't keep him in the dark. Answer any questions. _Honestly._"

"Whatever," Envy mumbled.

Lust grabbed a briefcase from the table and exited from Greed's line of sight. A moment later, he heard the distinctive sound of a door clicking shut. He was all alone with Envy, his most sadistic brother.


	2. Chapter 2

A.N. By the way, in the last chapter, when Lust commented on Greed's appearance, just to clarify, Greed does still look like he did in Ling's body.

Greed struggled to sit up, forcing his weary limbs (weary but somehow as heavy as stone) to heave up his disease-ravaged body (Greed promised himself he would try to stop bring so dramatic) upright on the couch.

Envy snorted at Greed's awkward progress. A brief flood of annoyance momentarily made Greed dizzy with the raw _desire_ to rip out Envy's _silly_, black heart from his tiny, little chest. Greed drew in a deep breath of air, and instead gave Envy a languid smile.

Envy scowled, and a red light crackled dangerously around his body before it dissipated into the air.

Greed's smile widened. "Lust told you not to kill me," he reminded him.

Envy shot Greed a baleful glare. "I doubt she'd care too much."

Greed gave a small shrug, trying to appear at ease, although the queasy sensation of fear was beginning to knot around his gut. "She also told you to answer any questions I had."

Envy cocked his head, and his pupils slitted for a split second- as if as a memory of their former selves. "That depends."

"On what?"

Envy's lips curled upwards. "How nice you are to me."

Greed grimaced. "Where am I?"

A pause. Then Envy answered, "Gotham city. America."

Greed allowed his bafflement to show. "Is that a country? I've never heard of it." _Neither has Ling_ he thought silently.

Envy nodded, and seemed to relax somewhat. "America is a country. But it's not in the same world as Amestris."

"Huh?"

Envy clenched his jaw, and ran his fingers through his long hair. "It's like…" he struggled momentarily for words. "The world that we lived in before… that was one world. This world is a separate world. Similar- but different. No alchemy or automail. The same languages and similar clothes. Different technology."

"No alchemy?"

"No alchemy," Envy confirmed.

Greed frowned, reflecting on what Envy had said. It seemed so unreal, but he doubted Envy had the creativity to come up with such an elaborate lie. And, honestly, it was the only explanation that made even the slightest bit of sense. "How did we get here?" he asked.

Envy bit his lip. "I don't know," he said after a while. "Lust and I… after we… died… or rather, right before we should have, there was a big, bright blue light."

"A light that seemed to eat the world?" Greed whispered.

"Right. And then we were in the warehouse, the same one you were in. Lust came through first- she died first; she was the one who eventually found me."

"Does everyone from our world come through?" Greed wanted to know.

Envy shook his head. "Only homunculi. When they use up their stones. After that… when we come here, we're sort of… human."

"Sort of?" Greed asked hopefully, picking up on the contrasting words.

"We can't regenerate, and we have a heart as our core instead of the stone. No Oroborus tattoo either. But our powers remain intact."

Greed nodded. He had figured out that much for himself. Another thought came to him, and he felt his face show the question before he himself had time to voice it. "If dying homunculi come through," he began slowly, "Where are Gluttony and Sloth?"

"They were liabilities," Envy replied smoothly, "Gotham's police killed Gluttony- though we were forced to clean up the mess. It was close. Something similar happened with Sloth- we had to take care of that ourselves."

"And Wrath?"

Envy shrugged carelessly. "He didn't come through at all."

"He was a homunculus, wasn't he?"

Another shrug, this one of helplessness. "I don't really know. He was a human-homunculus. Maybe it was different for him."

"_I_ was a human-homunculus," Greed told Envy.

"Yeah, but you were also a regular homunculus. And besides, even when you were in that kid's body, you were different from Wrath."

"Oh, really?" Greed asked, feigning incredulousness.

If Envy noticed the sarcasm, he chose to ignore it. "You could regenerate, he couldn't. He fought the stone, your kid didn't. I'll bet you wouldn't have aged, either."

"_And_ I had a cooler power," Greed announced proudly.

"Please," Envy snorted. "You were never any match for Wrath."

Greed ground his teeth. "What's the deal with this place anyway?" he asked in a rather feeble attempt to change the subject.

"Gotham? It's just corrupt and stained with its own little crest of blood." Envy spoke his next words with a hint of wistfulness. "First Gotham's economic troubles, then it became a crime dominated city, and then the Narrows- a section of Gotham- was sprayed with Fear Gas and then-"

"Fear Gas?" Greed interrupted.

Envy rolled his eyes. "Some drug that made people go crazy with fear," he said negligently. "Anyway," he added, seemingly eager to get on back on track, "then some guy called the Batman came out fighting crime and stuff (actually, I think he was around before the Fear Gas incident) and then-"

"The Batman?" Greed snickered, raising an eyebrow.

Envy giggled softly. "Some lunatic who dresses up like a big bat and prowls the cities at night," he said dramatically.

"Seriously?"

"I'm not making this up." Envy said somberly. "Then this Joker guy- a homicidal clown- came out and started on this _huge_ campaign to screw everyone over that really freaked everyone out. Lots of people died," he added, as if an afterthought. "Then the Batman got him put back in jail, but the Batman had apparently killed a few people himself."

"Like that Dent, guy, right?" Greed asked, remembering the radio announcer earlier.

Envy frowned. "How'd you know?"

"I heard it over the radio."

Confusion flashed across Envy's face for a second, before it cleared up. "You mean the television," he said, knowingly.

"Whatever it's called here. Was I right?"

Envy stared a Greed for a second. "Yeah," he said, "Harvey Dent died. Lust knew him. She works in the District Attorney's office."

"How'd she manage _that_?"

"Not too hard to fake paperwork, apparently. And, besides, in Gotham they're not too into background checks. They need all the help they can get."

"No kidding."


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey! Jayd!"

Lust stifled an annoyed sigh upon hearing the name she went by in this world, glancing at the sprinting figure of Stacy Johnson.

The elevator door slid open, and Lust turned her back on Stacy, slipping inside, hoping to evade her overly-eager colleague. Unfortunately, Lust had underestimated the effectiveness of Stacy's legs, and Lust had to jump backwards to avoid Stacy crashing into her. Dodging around Stacy's flying briefcase, Lust resisted the urge to stab some sense into Stacy with her fingernails, and instead settled on cursing the girl under her breath.

The doors slid closed, and Stacy turned to Lust. "I woke up late," she huffed, bending over and gasping for breath. "And then I forgot that my boyfriend was borrowing my car. I didn't have money for a cab," she gulped in a few deep breaths of air, and then continued, "So I had to run all the way here. Over a mile."

"Over a mile?" Lust repeated, cocking an eyebrow. She was impressed despite herself with Stacy's resilience. Who knew that such a tiny, girlish figure was capable of displaying enough physical prowess to sprint a mile through Gotham with a briefcase in business casual?

"Yeah," Stacy wheezed, not understanding that Lust had phrased it as a rhetorical question. "I'm _so_," she drew in a lungful of air, "not going to hold back with the junk food."

Lust rolled her eyes, marveling at the strangeness of humans. Honestly, it didn't matter which world you came from, human beings would never cease to baffle. The elevator stopped, and the door opened. Lust and Stacy walked out towards the office they shared.

"Good morning, Miss Talon," a secretary called out to Lust. A passing male leered at her. She ignored them both.

"What a pervert," Stacy complained. She turned to look enviously at Lust's figure. "Although you can see where their coming from," she mumbled, then pulled a small key out of her pocket, and stopped at the office whose brass plate bore their names. She twisted the key into the lock, and the door clicked open.

Lust snapped on the light, and nodded approvingly at the unusual display of neatness. "Very good, Miss Johnson," she complimented.

Like the weak-willed, eager-to-please human she was, Stacy blushed a bit and gave what might pass as a small bow. "Thank you, Miss Talon," she murmured.

Lust moved to her desk and sat down. "Let's get to work, then," she said, and Stacy took a seat at her own desk.

Lust opened the top drawer, and pulled out a manila folder, placing it gently on the desk, and shutting the drawer with her knee. She opened the folder and leafed through the papers inside until she found the one she was looking for. A bloated and grainy photograph, to be more accurate.

Stacy, looking over, noticed the picture, and more precisely, the dark suited man in the center. "Is that…?" she began, letting her sentence trail off.

Lust spared the girl a brief nod of affirmation. "That's right," she said. "The Batman." She stared at the photograph. "In China. Possibly the only picture of him ever taken."

"Well, the quality sucks," Stacy declared. "What's it for?"

Lust frowned lightly at the girl. "Stay on track," she chided, much as she had done with Gluttony, once upon a time. Admittedly, Stacy was quite a bit smarter than Gluttony; it was just that Stacy seemed to prefer not to show it.

"I am!" Stacy cried, then accused in a low mumble, "You aren't."

Lust seriously considered killing her. Fighting her homicidal urges, Lust looked down stiffly at Batman's picture. "He's a handsome man," she admired, adding, "Strong too."

"He _killed_ Harvey Dent, and a bunch of cops," Stacy gagged, apparently physically repulsed.

Lust kept her eyes on the picture, tuning out Stacy's comments. She had, after all, had over two hundred years of practice for doing just that.

True, Lust thought to herself, the he was the lead suspect in Dent's murder, but that didn't dampen her high regard for the Batman. Of course, the last man she had been attracted too was Mustang, her would be killer. And look where that had gotten her… he had burned her until her core was depleted. He had exiled her from a world where she was an _immortal_ into a world where she was an anonymous human. He had killed Envy, too, although she couldn't honestly say that she cared as much about that.

"Miss Talon?"

Lust snapped out of her musings, glancing up at Stacy. "Yes?"

Stacy had the decency to briefly avert her gaze. "Sorry," she said, "but I was wondering what the image is here for."

Lust smiled patiently. "If we want to try to Batman, we first have to find him."

"Isn't that usually a job for the police?"

Lust snorted. "Please. Gotham's police has been working nonstop on finding Batman's identity since Dent was killed and they still have nothing to show for it. It's time to take matters into our hands, Miss Johnson."

"Right." Stacy snapped a mock-salute, and Lust, once again, wanted to kill her for her insolence. "Where'd you get this image, anyway?"

"A blog," Lust answered. She pulled out a pen and carefully traced the outline of the Batman's face, then took another colored pen to line his exposed skin.

Lust wanted to scream from displeasure as she walked down the night-darkened street. She and Stacy had run the image through all of the facial-recognition software's their office had access too, and a few more. Around a thousand possible matches had been found, but the lack of good quality displayed in the photograph had prevented them from getting any more specific results. She clenched her jaw, holding back a snarl of frustration, and noticed a faint sound on the pavement behind her. Suddenly very aware that the street she had chosen was next to deserted, Lust paused, and heard the footfalls grow gradually louder. She turned around. And found a small gun pointed at her forehead. Behind it, standing an arm's length away was an average sized man with skin as pale and white as a sheet of paper.

"What do you want?" Lust asked evenly, angling her fingers towards his throat.

He grinned. "You're the pretty lawyer working on the Dent case, right?"

"Correct. Although I suppose it's more of a Batman case, right now."

The man scowled, and he stretched out his arm a bit more, so that the gun was a mere inch from her face. A sudden burst of fear momentarily made Lust's breath hitch, before she controlled herself. Just because she was _mortal_ didn't make her _human_. "Yeah," he growled, apparently oblivious to Lust's personal dilemma. "And see, Miss Jade," Lust observed with a detached irritation that the man had pronounced her name wrong; "Some people don't like that."

"Your boss, I presume." Lust gave a grim smile. "Let me ask you one question- Do you intend to kill me?"

Another grin. That was all the answer Lust had needed. She allowed her briefcase to slip from her fingers. "Do you enjoy pain?" she asked impassively.

"What?"

"Masochism has always been something of an enigma for me," she continued, twisting her hand around so that her fingers were pointing towards his wrist. "Taking pleasure from pain- how intriguing. I've always found pain to be the antithesis of pleasure. And trust me when I say I've had my fair share of both. But," Lust gave a slow, cruel smile, "Whatever works." Her fingernails extended quickly, slicing through the man's wrist, and he screamed with pain, dropping the gun. It went off, and the pain howled with renewed agony, cradling his arm to his chest and stumbling backwards, blood dripping down his shirt and pouring from his ankle.

"What the hell?" he cried weakly.

"I take that as a no," Lust chuckled, and then let her smile drop from her face. "I _hate_ rude men," she explained. She extended the nails on her other hand, letting them drag along to ground.

"What are you?" the man asked fearfully.

"Lust."


	4. Chapter 4

A.N. Wow, this one is really short. Sorry. Please review! Also: I'm considering having a pairing, but I'm not sure who I should do it with. Any suggestions?

The man whimpered and tried to run away, but tripped over, sprawling on the ground.

"You humans never cease to amaze me," Lust sighed. "Whether in this world or the other, you really are such fragile creatures."

"…You… aren't human?" it was a gasp of horror and an accusation mixed into one.

"No," Lust admitted, "I am. In my world," she said, suddenly desperate to explain her predicament, "You would have been right. I was an immortal there. A _homunculi_ born of the vice of lust and the souls of the people of Xerxes contained in a philosopher's stone."

The man gave her what could only be called a blank look, despite his pain and obvious fear.

"Confused?" Lust queried. "I don't blame you. But in this world, I'm little more than a mere human. Much like yourself, I hate to say." She glanced down at him again. "I just want to know one thing," she said, bending down and tracing her elongated nail along his unwounded arm. "Who sent you?"

He spat on the ground and bared his teeth. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Really," Lust chastised, shaking her head and smiling lightly. She sunk her nail through his shoulder and he screamed. "You should do what's best for you." Lust stood up, making sure that her nail remained in his arm.

"Now tell me," she restarted in a menacing purr, "_Who sent you_, and I'll let you live. If not…." She let her words trail off and smiled sweetly, twisting her nail around in his arm for good measure.

He groaned, but impressively managed to scowl at her with rage-filled eyes. "Screw you, bitch."

Lust rewarded his valiant attempt at strength with another smile. "Not the answer I wanted to here," she laughed, remembering with a slight twinge of nostalgia torturing Marcoh in more-or-less the same fashion. The fondness originated from her power, or, more precisely, her regenerative capabilities, which had stunned him into inaction. Of course, if this man had some hidden weapon, she wouldn't be able to regenerate from the wound. But this man, lying bleeding on the ground in front of her was no alchemist, and she doubted that he posed much of a threat to her wellbeing. She slowly retracted her nail, and noted with relish the agonized cries he made as her spear was painstakingly and tantalizingly being pulled from his body.

"You can do whatever you want… but you'll never find out."

Lust grinned at the invitation, unfazed by his refusal to answer her question. "There's this nerve in the arm that when touched caused excruciating pain. Imagine what it would feel like if it were sliced…."

She had the satisfaction of seeing his face pale even further, but his lips showed no sign of loosening. Lust shook her head, and moved to rip out his arm, but a hurried voice behind her stop her.

"Yes… yes… that's right. I don't know, there's a lot of blood and I heard screams. There's a gun. And a woman… no… I don't think she did it… she seems to be…. In shock? Maybe…."

Sighing in equal annoyance and relief that she was not a suspect, Lust extended her thumbnail into the man's stomach, and then retracted her nails. She reached to grab her fallen briefcase and turn around, painting a confused, shocked expression over her features. A young woman stared at her, cell phone by her side.

"I don't know what happened…." Lust whispered. "You should call 911."

Relief flashed across the woman's features that she was not confronting a murderer. Lust wanted to laugh at the irony.

"I did," the woman assured her, "Did you see what happened?"

"No," Lust murmured.

The woman frowned, apparently concerned. "Maybe you should go home," she suggested gently.

Lust nodded. "I think you're right." She walked past the woman at a slow pace, before picking up her speed once she was out of sight.

Once at the apartment she and Envy (and now Greed, she supposed) shared she opened the door and stepped inside. The lights were one, and Greed was rummaging through the fridge.

Lust set her briefcase on the table, and Greed whirled around, his mouth stuffed with food.

"Glad to see you're feeling better," she informed him sarcastically.

He swallowed. "Ling imparted a real appetite with me," he explained.

"Your host?"

"My _friend_," Greed said, glowering.

"If you say so."

Greed ran his eyes up her body, but not with his usual greed or lust, but with confusion. "What happened to _you_?" he asked.

Lust groaned when she noticed that her once pristine suit was now covered with splatters of drying blood.

"Oh, Lust!" Envy exclaimed enthusiastically. "Tortured anyone recently?"

Lust grimaced.

"Wow!" Envy laughed, "Who was it?"

"Some thug," she dismissed. "He's dead by now, I'm sure."

"Major blood loss, but the stab wounds were clean enough, and their doesn't seem to be any infection." The doctor explained.

"Any internal bleeding?" the EMT asked.

"None. He was lucky, none of his internal organs were damaged. He should make a full recovery."


	5. Chapter 5

"Lindsay didn't come back last night, sir."

"Really?" came low voice. From out of the darkness stepped a powerfully built man with dark, shadowed eyes. "Wasn't he the one assigned to take care of that pesky lawyer?" from the low purr in the his voice, it was clear to the other man that the second already knew the answer. He decided to give him one anyway.

"That's right, sir," he responded, and a trembled undercurrent betrayed his nervousness. For some reason, unknown even to him, he felt like reaffirming his previous statement and added, "He was."

The man's eyes glinted dangerously. "I want him found," he warned.

Greed stuffed a forkful of waffle down his throat. He was _so_ hungry! He wasn't sure whether, as he'd suggested to Lust, a Ling-thing, or if it was purely a human-teenager thing. He shivered. He didn't mind this body, not exactly, sure, it wasn't as handsome as his first one- in Dublith- but Ling had been fairly attractive for a human. No. It was the horror of _the teenager state_. Although he was nearly positive that Ling had passed through puberty, it was still a horrifying thought. Not just that, but Greed had discovered that as a human he needed far more sleep then he had as a homunculi, and his body wore down much quicker. His agility and strength had lessened somewhat, but he was fairly certain that they were still above normal. It was sudden- and Greed had been completely unprepared, but he thought he was taking it rather well, considering his former obsession with possessing immortality (among other things). Perhaps, he mused, it was that his avarice had been deflected from material things to obtaining the comfort and solace of faithful companions. Or maybe that being alive- even as a human- was so much better than the outcome he had expected in his last seconds in his world. He was even grateful for the opportunity to see his siblings again (another surprise). Or perhaps, he thought, his lips curling into a wicked grin, it was mostly _Lust_ that he had missed. Apparently, his greed hadn't _entirely_ been redirected. His grin widened. Lust was his favorite homunculi. She was indisputably the most beautiful among the artificial humans, and remarkably good company. Even if the last time he had seen her she had been taunting him before letting his drop into a cauldron of molten lava.

Well, Greed dismissed, past is past. And he suddenly wanted to ask Lust as question. "I can't believe you're a lawyer!"

Well… not really much of a question.

She looked disdainfully at his plate, then at him. "You never used to eat so much," she chided.

"Please!" Greed rolled his eyes. "You haven't seen me for a year and that all you can say?" Not that he had expected much better. She hadn't seen him for a century, and all she could say when they finally came face-to-face, all she could do was give him a short comment on how his current predicament (being strapped uncomfortably to a pole with swords speared through his body) served him well.

"You know me that well?" Lust shook her head and slung her briefcase over her wrist.

"Lust?" came a gravelly voice from the doorframe. Envy cleared his throat, a painful sounding procedure, and yawned widely, showing eyeteeth. Greed stifled his laughter. Envy looked _terrible_ he thought, amused and satisfied. Although he was still wearing his self-described 'beautiful' form, the oversized garments he wore draped around his slim physique, and his eyes were darkened with lethargy. His skin was pale, and dark bags ringed his bloodshot eyes. "Leaving already?" he slurred sleepily.

"That's right." Lust hadn't batted and eye. And man… she had great eyes. And lips. The way they moved when she spoke in her mellifluous, musical voice…. She caught Greed's gaze, and frowned a bit at him, apparently confused. A small shrug and she returned her attention to Envy. "The Batman/Dent case is getting a bit out of hand. The thug that attacked me was doing so on someone's orders. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find out whose. If they want to stop this case, then we're on to something. I just have to find out what. And that means working harder."

Envy shrugged. "Makes sense. Tell you what; I'll scout the local area. See whose behind this, if I can." His voice abruptly changed, and a dark crimson light pulled at his body, transforming his flesh and molding his features until he looked something like Lust's would-be-assailant. He ran thick fingers through his now-short dark hair.

Lust grimaced. "I like your other form better."

"Whatever you say," Envy proclaimed, shifting back into his former self.

"I'll help," Greed surprised himself by volunteering. "I'm the ultimate shield, after all," he announced arrogantly, suddenly fearful of them thinking him soft. "And Lust's providing the money for the food… so…."

"How nice." Lust quipped sarcastically. "Greed… you have always been something." She gave a nod of thanks to Envy, and opened the door, stepping out, and shutting it lightly behind her.

Greed turned to Envy. "So," he said, looking towards the more experienced manipulator for advice, "what first?"

Envy gave him a sly smile. The smile of a coconspirator.

"Lindsay says it was the um," the man pause, phone still to his ear, and edited out profanities Lindsay was spewing, "Lawyer, Talon, who did it to him."

"So she's still alive?" the other man asked.

The man asked Lindsay a quick question, and received a quick reply. "Yeah," he reported.

"Impressive." The man squared his shoulders and his voice became as hard as iron. "We need to make an _example_ of her," he growled.

"How, sir?" the other man risked asking.

The second man didn't seem to mind the question. In fact, he smiled slowly, dangerously. "We need the Scarecrow."

"The Scarecrow? That crazy doctor? What for?"

"For his fear toxin, Wes."


	6. Chapter 6

A.N. I think this is the longest one so far. Also thanks for the reviews! I don't really know how Greed and Lust would work, even though I am a big fan of that pairing, because Greed is still in the form of Ling Yao who is about sixteen.

Lust had had a busy morning. First, thanks to Greed's insidious commentary, she had arrived at work a few minutes late, and found that she had been locked out of her own office, her keys having been mistakenly entrusted to the irresponsible Stacy. The door was thick and though she banged on the wood until the skin on her knuckles was a brittle shade of red, the doorknob stayed in the same position she had found it in. She deduced with no small annoyance that Stacy must have- despite Lust's adamant protests- brought her i-Pod (a ridiculous and redundant human invention) to work with her. Lust ground her teeth, debating whether putting up with Stacy was harder than putting up with Havoc had been. She was by far his most lethal rival in terms of sheer obnoxiousness. Lust _hated_ humans. She would _kill_ the little girl. Slowly. Lust smiled grimly, nursing her bruised knuckles, and fantasized about torturing Stacy. She would start with the limbs, she thought, and then go inwards from there. With a brief glance around the hallway, Lust bent down, and placed to tip of her fingernail in the keyhole, gently, carefully, extending her nail and twisting ever so slightly. The door unlocked, and breathed backwards just the tiniest degree.

Lust entered her office, and Stacy turned around, pulling her earplugs from her ears.

"Uh, hi, Miss Talon." Stacy frowned as she looked at Lust's hands and saw the absence of a key. She was truly a clueless human.

"The door must be broken," Lust told her smugly, pulling back her chair and sitting down at her desk.

"Yeah…." Stacy murmured eyes still narrowed in confusion, replacing her earplugs. Lust wanted to rip them out and stuff them down her throat while her lips turned blue from a lack of oxygen. Blue lips, Lust considered, there's a thought. She wondered how she would look with blue lipstick on. Maybe… maybe lilac or white lipstick.

Lust mentally berated herself for getting off track, and returned to the list of possible Batman suspects. By mid-afternoon she had eliminated around half of them (the women on the list) but five hundred uncrossed names still stared stubbornly back at her, as if taunting her. Lust itched to tear the sheet to shreds, wondering how Envy and Greed were faring.

"Have I mentioned that I like caffeine?" Greed asked, draining his second can of Pepsi and crushing it. The sun was sinking in the sky, and it cast a red rainbow across the reflective aluminum.

"Yes." Envy replied testily. Envy had transformed into the body of a tall, blonde man in his early twenties, with hard features.

Greed threw the mangled can to the side, and exhaled loudly. "What are we doing here, really?"

"Waiting."

"For what?"

Envy gave a sudden grin. Greed marveled at the sight. No matter what form he disguised his true self with, Envy's trademark smile never failed to give away who was wearing the mask. His grins remained unchanged, even when his flesh did. "_Him_."

Greed stared at the figure Envy was fixated on, a teeny, tiny man (a bit taller than Edward Elric), but with much shorter, darker hair. "Who's he?" he asked as the man rapidly approached them.

"His name is Wes. He runs a lot of errands for a lot of guys."

"That's interesting," Greed said blandly.

When the man showed signs of passing them, Envy took the man by his shoulders and slammed him into the wall, sneering unpleasantly at Wes's apparent terror.

"I don't have any money!" Wes squeaked.

"We don't want your money," Envy replied, suddenly beaming angelically.

"W-what?" the man said stuttering, apparently disturbed by Envy's sudden mood-switch.

Greed shifted his hands into the hardest form of carbon, glancing curiously at his jealous brother.

Envy gave him a quick nod, as if saying 'Have fun. Make it real.' Greed wished Envy had left _him_ with the job of pinning-Wes-to-the-wall leaving Envy as the one to get Wes to spill. Greed hadn't actually had much practice in the art of forcing people to tell him their secrets, in Dublith, he had let Loa and his other guys handle the more messy work. Likewise, Ling's bodyguards had handled his dirty work, so Ling hadn't had much training in that field either. He shook his head mournfully, and put on his game face, planting an evil smirk across his lips.

"Hello, Wes," he said, stroking his claw alongside Wes's temple.

Wes gulped. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Greed mused; secretly thrilled that Wes had given him such an opening. "I want women, I want subordinates! I want land and I want power! I want everything in the world!" He leaned in closer to Wes who was sweating visibly. "I am _Greed_ incarnate!" he paused. "But right now, I want you to tell me who's after my sister."

"S-sister?"

"Lust. Beautiful woman, long dark hair, violet eyes."

Envy bared his teeth, twisting his head around to look at Greed. "She goes by the name Jayd Talon."

A flash of recognition crossed Wes's trembling features, before he put on a shaky attempt at a poker face. "Who?"

"Jayd, Lust, whoever," Envy snapped, irritated.

"You're Greed," Wes looked at Greed, "And she's Lust? Who are you?" he asked, chuckling nervously, "Wrath?"

"Envy," Envy replied. His face suddenly lit up. "You're not planning on telling us, are you?" he began slowly, his voice a purr.

"No." Greed admired the firmness in Wes's voice, though he suspected that it wouldn't last very long.

"Hm." Envy suddenly reached on hand into Wes's pocket, pulling out a small- what were they called again? - cell phone.

Envy kept his hold on Wes while at the same time he turned on the machine, pressing small indents in the lower section. He showed what he was doing to Wes. "Because, you see," Envy began, smiling happily, "If you don't tell me exactly what I want to know, I go through every single name on this contact list-"

"The person you want isn't on there," the man said quickly, but his voice was too sure for him to be bluffing, especially from such a bad liar.

Envy shook his head, that eerie smile still fixed on his features, "That's not what I was going to do. I'm going to go through every single name on here. I'm going to track down every single person you have up here- friends, family, acquaintances. Then I'm going to kill them."

Wes paled and let out a tiny, horrified gasp. "You wouldn't."

Envy merely smiled at him. "Do you really want to gamble the lives of the people closest to you on your guess?"

"Please," the man begged.

Envy's smile widened until there was an acute danger of it cracking his face.

Wes slumped down, bowing his head. "I can't tell you who's after your lawyer sister, I don't know their name. But I can tell you who's after her right now."

"Speak up, human."

Wes paled further at the word 'human' but he continued. "The Scarecrow."

"Who?"

Envy ignored Greed. "When?" he asked, his voice furious and panicked.

Wes wetted his lips. "Now."

Envy thrust him at Greed. "Kill him," he ordered, and Greed, confused, obeyed, thrusting his hardened hands through the man's chest, and he twitched, before falling still. Greed let his limp body fall from his hands, turning back to Envy. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"We have to go," Envy said anxiously, "Now."

The unexpected urgency in Envy's words convinced Greed that something was seriously wrong.

Lust knew something was wrong. She had opted to take the shortcut home, but it was worryingly dark and she felt a cold chill of déjà vu as she realized that she was alone in the alleyway. The prickling sensation in her gut increased when she heard footsteps behind her.

She whirled around, confronting a suited figure wearing a burlap mask over his (or her) head.

"Who are you?"

"I hate to do this," came a male voice from inside the mask. Lust thought he didn't sound to unenthusiastic. "But it's the first job offer I've gotten in a while so…." He raised his arm. "I wonder what you fear, Miss Talon."

Lust face twisted in confusion, and a puff of vapor came from some mechanism under his sleeve. Lust inhaled accidently, and coughed, the world around her blurring. She dropped her briefcase and fell to the ground. Her senses were muddled, and she felt as if she were in some sort of half-dream. Hallucinogenic. She looked up at the man, and nearly scream in shock. Where the masked figure had once stood, was instead a raven-haired man in Amestrian military garb. He blurred, and then solidified, raising his white gloved hand, and she was suddenly terrified.

He snapped his fingers and she light up like a bonfire. "Mustang!" she scream in agony. Her clothes ignited, and her hair caught the flames, the fire rippling across her skin, caressing her body in unbearable heat. Her world exploded in pain.

_It hurt_! It hurt it hurt it hurt! The fire tore through her skin, charring it, and then ate away with its burning teeth at her muscles and bones. But she didn't die. No, rather, she somehow remained intact, the fire her eternal companion in her pain-dominated universe. It hurt! She wasn't dying, yet, and she _didn't want to die_! She was scared. So scared. Pain and fear abruptly merged. She looked up through her burning eyes, and spotted Mustang. Her tormenter! She hated him! She feared him and his wicked glove. He was going to kill her! No! "I hate you!" she screamed. "Human!" Her gaze zoomed in on his eyes, infuriatingly resolute and emotionless, reflecting the flames that bathed her body. She hated him he hurt her he was the cause of her pain he was the cause of her fear he was her Master in her new world of fiery fear-pain and she hated him _so_ much that she screamed again and again, cursing him, begging him for mercy as the fire intensified, pleading with him, offering to surrender, although she wasn't sure now what she had done wrong, and she wanted him dead, but it hurt too much to remember how to move and she hated him and it hurt and she was so afraid and wanted it over but was afraid of what would happen if that happened. Through her charred vocal cords she cried out in pain and terror his name his hated name she hated him more than any human she hated him hated him hated him. Then, as if a mirage, a black cloaked figure dropped in front of Mustang, and Mustang twisted around, and suddenly Mustang wasn't Mustang but someone else, not that she really cared it hurt so bad. The new figure in black was suddenly holding her in his arms and she wondered why he was do something so stupid she was burning bright so bright and hot scorching heat but he was cool to the touch and quenched the flames where she touched him like darkness absorbing and flame or a vacuum dissipating fire before the pain was back and her world was awash in agony and she squeezed what was left of her eyelids shut and felt the black-suited man grab on to her and then there was movement upwards she thought but wasn't sure and didn't care it hurt so bad and she was so scared Mustang would come back and then more pain and then there was more movement and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and then the movement stopped and then there it was again and then she was place on something nice and cold like metal before her fire that clung to her heated the metal and it was even worse than before and her fear-pain went up yet another notch and then something poked her ruined arm and it was like ice water being injected into her bloodstream because it took away the fires and flames and fear and pain and she relaxed and all she could do was marvel at the lack of fear-pain which were slowly separating and she sighed in pleasure and thought perhaps her body was ruined and fell into unconsciousness.


	7. Chapter 7

A.N. Wonder who saved her…? XD

"Damn it!" Envy yelled for the seventeenth time in the past twenty-seven minutes (Greed had started counting after number five). "Where is she? She should be back by now?"

"She fine," Greed reassured him. "Probably."

"Probably?" Envy's eyes shot daggers.

"Well what did you want me to say? She's _Lust_. The 'Ultimate Spear', have you heard of her? Surely you're concerned about some random human, and not a former homunculi well over two hundred years old?"

Envy shook his head frantically. "The _former_ is the word of concern, right now. She can't regenerate."

"Lust's smart enough to know how to not _need_ to regenerate, Envy, unlike you Mr. Take-the-hit-to-win-the-fight. And you're still alive, right?"

Envy's ability to shoot deadly projectiles from his eyeballs had not decreased.

Greed sighed noisily. "Wherever she is, I'm sure Lust is fine," he said.

Lust didn't know where she was, she hadn't yet opened her eyes, but her location wasn't on the top of her list of priorities right now. She was more worried about the state of her body. She assumed that the masked man had sprayed her with some sort of hallucinogenic, and that the fire had been conjured not from Mustang's alchemy and gloves, but had sprung from her own twisted imagination. She lifted her hand and felt to urge to scream in pain with the motion, and traced her fingers down the familiar and smooth planes and slopes of her face. She sighed in relief and pleasure, running her thumb across her lips. She opened her eyes and some of her relieved elation turned into confusion. Was she… in a cave? It certainly looked like that. A huge cave of a room barred from the outside world by a white waterfall. It was surreal. Lust pushed herself off of the table (remembering how it had seemed to reflect the fake-flames and become white-hot) and shivered involuntarily. Her briefcase lay on a wide table a few yards away. How considerate of her rescuer. She was sure now that this small sign of kindness proved that the person who had brought her here was not intending on torturing or killing her. And speaking of her rescuer…. Her eyes flashed with practiced cunning across the length of the cave-

"You recovered remarkably quickly." Lust spun around at the sound of the raspy, deep voice, and came face to cowled face with….

"Batman," she said, "Interesting. I presume you were the one who brought me here." She gestured with her hand at the cave. She studied him. He certainly was strong and handsome. But his eyes… Lust bit back with no small effort a hiss of disgust. He had _Mustang's_ eyes. Dark and serious. _Resolute_. She wanted them to cloud with agony and distress. And maybe they already had. His eyes seemed less ruthless then she had perceived Mustang's, and after all, she told herself, it was he who had doused the fires of the imaginary-Mustang's flames.

"Yes. I was."

A man on a mission, Lust admired, her long-buried sin beginning to emerge. "I'm Jayd Talon," she half-lied, "I work on your case. You understand, of course, that you were mistaken in bringing me here. I've seen your face now. You should have let me burn."

"I know who you are," he said impassively. "And I wouldn't have done that."

"Oh?" Lust asked curiously. "Why not?"

"Because I help people," he said, "I don't abandon them just for my own potential well being."

He really was a different person from Mustang then. Lust smiled. "You're naïve," she informed him. "Sacrifices have to be made."

His jaw clenched. "Don't lecture me about sacrifice," he warned.

"The same goes for me. Tell me- was Dent a sacrifice?"

"I didn't-" the Batman started, before he abruptly clamped his lips together resolutely.

Huh. Lust smiled to herself. Was he taking the fall for someone else? Was that the sacrifice he was referring to? She would have to investigate this later.

"Who is Mustang?"

Lust flinched. "What?"

"You were screaming it over and over. You begged this 'Mustang' to stop the fire. What did you mean by that?"

"Nobody."

"Really?" Batman sounded unpersuaded.

Lust paused, debated what she should tell him. She felt; to some degree he deserved at least part of the truth. He had, after all, saved her. She owed him. But how much? "He was," she began with deliberate slowness, trying to come up with words, "A man that hurt me… badly… in the past."

"A boyfriend? Did he abuse you?" The Batman's words were neutral, but Lust could have sworn she heard a hint of anger behind the harsh, monotonic sounds.

"No…," this time, Lust's struggle to find words was genuine. She had had much practice in lying- she had been one of Father's most prized manipulators- but in telling the truth it seemed, she was out of practice. "I knew him… before… but it was my fault. I was ordered to…." She paused. "I hurt him. I hurt his friend, was about to hurt his other friend. I suppose he was protecting them. He tried to kill me, though. I'm sure he thought he did."

The Batman was silent for a moment. "How did you survive?" he asked at last.

Lust smiled bitterly. "An unexpected twist."

"I notice you haven't elaborated."

"That's right."

"And you're not about to."

"Correct."

"May I ask why?"

"I owe you, Batman, but I don't trust you." Lust thrust her chin upwards. "And besides," she said, her voice sly, "You haven't been completely honest, either. In reference to the Dent killing you said 'I didn't'." Lust made air quotes around the last words, then asked. "What did you mean by that?"

"I meant nothing."

"No?"

"No."

"Did you kill Harvey Dent?"

"Yes."

Lust shook her head from side to side, smiling sadly. "You're lying. You're an excellent liar, but I'm even better."

Batman seemed to smirk. "Apparently not," he told her in a rough whisper.

"We'll see," Lust retorted coolly.

Batman inclined his head. "Perhaps. You should get home, Miss Talon. Where do you live?"

Lust debated telling him, then shrugged. "Apartment number 115, Lane Avenue." She paused. "Why?"

Batman's hand flashed towards her neck, and Lust glimpsed a metallic flash before she felt the painful jab.

"You-" she managed to grunt before she fell, once again, unconscious, collapsing into the Batman's waiting arms.

"I hear something."

"What?"

"The door." Envy darted towards it and yanked it open.

"Lust?" Greed asked, staring at her inert figure slumped on the ground, her briefcase resting besides her head.

At the sound of her name, Lust groaned and sat up, massaging her temple. "I'll murder him…" she muttered.

Greed offered a hand and she grabbed on to it, pulling herself up. "Who?" he asked. "The Scarecrow?"

Lust paled at the name but shook her head in a negative. She reached from her briefcase and when she met Greed's gaze again; her eyes were filled with savage determination. "The Batman."


	8. Chapter 8

A.N. Thanks so much for all the comments! I really appreciate them! And no, Envy does not have a job (can you imagine him working for someone else?) And if it seems like I'm focusing too much on Lust's encounter with Scarecrow, I'm sorry, but I think it's understandable that she'd be rattled. Also, I kind of want to put in more of Scarecrow, the sadistic side of me is really eager about delving into each of the homunculi's fears. Hehe. What do you guys think?

_Lust was dreaming and her dreams were of fire and pain and fear. The fear was a shameful memory of her earlier terrors, Mustang forcing her to her knees with the shock and horror of her fading immortality, her regenerative abilities made a curse, and for all her homunculi skills she had been rendered impotent. The pain was dulled in the dream world, but the enormity of it was enough to make her writhe under her sheets, struggling frantically against an intangible prison formed from her own mind, jailed by her rebellious thoughts and traitorous fears. Her fury, strong even in the numbed haze of the dream seemed to affect her nighttime realm, and the dreamworld blurred and pleasure was the dominate emotion, overriding all others as if they had been distant memories. Lust wanted and desired and obtained and felt warm flesh yielding to her hands and mouth and she ran her hands through thick hair, and wanted to tilt up the face of her lover to see who it was who was claiming her body, but decided that she didn't care, embracing the anonymity and mystery in much the same fashion she embraced their lean waist and neck with her legs and arms. _

Lust awoke suddenly. There was none of the slow, languid separating of dream and reality, none of the dawning sense of logic or reason. There was the dream and then there was not. She mourned with frustrated bitterness the loss of it before she thought back and remembered what she was missing. And then there was only confusion. It had been many years since Lust had had one of _those_ dreams. She wondered briefly what it was that had reignited her long-buried passion like the flammable sparks of Mustang's, except that these flames were sweet and wild and pleasant and did not scorch and seem to rip away at her flesh, but instead caused her skin to crackle with an electricity that was almost visible. In fact… the last time she had felt this was at least a century ago….

Lust dressed quickly with an efficiency that was customary for her. She smooth the fabric of her skirt and brush back her hair, tying it into a neat ponytail. She applied minimal makeup (she doubted- vainly- that she needed any at all) and slid her feet into her most uncomfortable pair of shoes (the distraction was welcome) and walked into the kitchen.

Both Greed and Envy were waiting for her, sitting impressively at the table without any bickering or fighting. They both turned to look at her as she entered.

"Lust…," Envy began. "What happened?" Right to the point then. Envy's tact was fading as quickly as his hatred of Greed, apparently. Lust admired a blunt attitude almost as much as she valued subtly, and decided to answer.

"I think you know. Surely you can guess?"

It was Greed who answered _her_ question with a reply nearly as blunt as Envy's original question. "No."

"Tell us," Envy urged.

Lust took a deep, steadying breath. "A man gave me some sort of hallucinogenic. It wasn't random; he specifically told me that it was a job. The Batman, I'm positive it was him, gave me… I think some sort of antidote, although I didn't ask." She frowned, she really should have.

"The Scarecrow, what did he look like?"

"That was his name? How silly."

Envy's eyes were unamused. "Please."

_He looked like Mustang_ Lust almost said, before she caught herself. It was the toxin that had made her think it was Mustang, when in fact it was all an illusion. It had been so real… so vivid… so terrifying…. "I didn't get a good look. He was of average height and slender, l think. He was Caucasian and wore some sort of mask that I assume must have been equipped with a ventilator."

Envy's unique, conscious control over each of the trillion of cells in his body had a habit of coming in handy during unexpected times. The familiar, if haunting light around him cracked the air like a whip, and his body warped, transforming. "Like this?" Envy asked, in his own voice.

Lust shrugged, trying to disguise her discomfort. "Maybe a bit taller. The mask is a bit looser, rougher." Envy adjusted his form, and Lust hastily avoided eye contact. "That's about right. I really have to go."

"Lust…," Envy began with an almost hesitant concern, "what did he make you see?"

Lust looked at him, then at Greed. "He made me see… a memory of the only time I was ever afraid." Greed knew what she meant, she could see the confusion turning into surprised understanding, but Envy, while he clearly had some grasp of the enormity of the effects of the Scarecrow's drug, didn't know the details. He looked like he wanted to ask he more, but Lust grabbed her briefcase and raise it a bit in front of her chest, like she was trying to ward off any further questions. "Please."

Both Greed and Envy wore slightly comical expressions of shock. She wondered if she had ever said 'please' in front of either of them. She doubted it. She left, cowardly and furious, hating them inexplicitly for their concern, when she knew, intellectually but not emotionally that she should probably thank them. It was rare enough that her emotions were dominate, so, as she made her short journey towards the office, she let them control her. When she reached the door of her office, her emotions had run dry, and she was left with a sticky sensation in her stomach, and a dry sensation in her throat and mouth. She remembered why she had buried her emotions in the first place. The last time they had surfaced with such intensity was a hundred odd years ago, with Greed. She did not want a repeat of what had happened then. She fumbled briefly with the key she had reacquired from Stacy, before inserting it into the knob and tugging it upwards and around.

She immediately sat at her desk, ignoring Stacy's enthusiastic, though unprofessional and bordering on carelessly rude greetings. She sorted through the Batman-suspect-list, comprising a new, updated version, when her phone rang. Stacy looked startled, and Lust couldn't say that she blamed the girl. Her phone had never rang. Not once since she had gotten this office with Stacy. With a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach, she guessed who was calling; she daintily and gingerly picked up the phone as if it was made of some sort of explosive material, and placed it to her ear, softly. "Who is it?"

"Me." Greed's voice. She gritted her teeth.

She struggled to remember the name of Greed's host. "Why are you calling, Ling?"

"It's Greed," Greed stated arrogantly and loudly, then added in a lower voice, "Why did you call me that?"

"Assistant," Lust said shortly. "You didn't answer my question."

"Hmm," Greed said, and Lust could almost hear his smug, self-satisfied smile on the other end, "I suppose I didn't. Maybe if you ask nicely…."

"Greed…." she warned.

"Alright." A crackle on the other line, which Lust interpreted as a mock-sigh. "Envy's got this nifty little device… called a cell-phone I believe, he stole it from some… what was his name? Wes. Anyway-"

"If you don't get to the point I'm going to hang up."

Another crackle-sigh. "Fine. We found someone who Envy is convinced might know something about the Scarecrow fellow."

"Fine." Lust was about to hang up, when she heard Greed say,

"I'm sorry for what happened, Lust." And he really meant it. She had heard him us that tone of voice only once before. He had meant it then, too. Of course, Greed never lied, but somehow _those_ times, Lust had understood that he had meant it with all his- heart? Stone? Whichever. She hung up.

Abruptly she felt a surge of guilt- an emotion that was so rare for her it was overpowering and bewildering. She almost picked up the phone to call Greed and apologize. But she hadn't returned what he had told her- before- and saw no need to apologize now. She returned to her list.

She had skipped her breaks, starring at the sheet of paper in front of her with awe. She had crossed out the people whose faces had not resembled the Bat's, and then all who had been aboard one of the gigantic boats during the last night the Joker had been a free man. About a hundred people were left over, and she crossed off any who did not have a budget large enough to compensate for the Bat's gear. The suit alone had to have cost thousands, what had looked like formfitting leather was, on closer inspection actually hardened armor-like plates, and the helmet looked strong and thick. The assorted weaponry and whatnot she had seen scattered around the cave had looked expensive as well. And so she had been left with one sole name- Bruce Wayne.

Lust wanted to laugh from the absurdity of it all- Gotham's billionaire playboy, secretly the Batman? Ridiculous. But his features did not resemble the Batman's, they were exactly the same. He could certainly afford any expenditure for high-tech clothes or gear. And Lust did her researcher, finding out that, for starters, Rachel Dawes, the Jokers former bait for the Bat was also formerly Bruce Wayne's friend. And, some had speculated, love interest? Wayne had connections to Dent as well; he had hosted the fundraiser that both the Joker and the Bat had crashed. Odd… nobody there could quite recall where Wayne had been during that time, or could account for the incredible speed at which Batman had shown up. Now that she had looked into it, the truth seemed so obvious. But to confirm it, she told herself, she would have to see Bruce Wayne herself.

"Crane?" Envy asked a certain Vicky, who was trembling pathetically. Greed had to admit that even Wes had showed more courage.

"Yeah," Vicky whimpered, wetting his lips, "Jonathan Crane."

"The doctor?"

"Uh-huh. Please let me go," he begged, his eyes shining with tears.

"Who's Crane?" Greed asked.

"A former doctor at Arkham. Nobody outside the police really knows the details."

"A doctor would make sense, right?" Greed questioned, forgetting momentarily about the man pinned to the wall- the same wall, in fact, that Wes had been pinned against.

"Yeah."

Greed felt a sudden and confusing rush of hatred for Crane. Why? he wondered, but he could come up with no answers.

"I really appreciate you seeing me on such short notice." Lust thanked Wayne, and he led her into his penthouse with an easy and confident charm, reaching out an arm that she placed her hand against. She was absolutely positive that Wayne was Batman, but she still wasn't completely sure what she was doing here.

"Anything for such a pretty woman," Wayne replied, winking slightly at her. Though Lust knew that he was the Batman, it was still odd. They acted completely differently, and Lust couldn't help but wonder which one he truly was. She was more inclined to think the Bat, but she wasn't sure.

Lust smiled. "Mr. Wayne, I only want to ask you a few questions, if you wouldn't mind."

"Certainty. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"No thank you." They glanced at each other, and then both took seats on a long, modern-looking couch.

"What can I do for you?" Wayne asked, a tinge of suspicion coloring his words. Lust was filled with a rush of longing, wanting to touch him, rake her fingers down his arms and kiss him….

"I just want you to answer one question Mr. Wayne."

He nodded, if not slightly stiffly.

Lust dismissed subtlety and cut straight to the thick of things. "How long have you been Batman?"

He smiled, "What?"

Lust returned the smile. "You heard me."

He seemed to study her for a second, his face and eyes growing serious and hard. "How did-"

Lust grinned coldly. "I can't reveal _all_ my secrets, can I?"

He was silent for another moment. "Why are you here? Too charge me with Dent's murder?" His lips tightened.

"No." Why _was_ she here? Lust didn't know.

"Then maybe you should leave," he suggested, not unkindly.

Lust did so.


	9. Chapter 9

A.N. Any idea who the shadowed man is? Guesses are appreciated (especially since I don't know for sure). XD

Outside of Wayne's penthouse Lust froze. What had just happened? She had no idea, but suspected that it had gone along the lines of starting of nicely and boldly, then crossing into meaner territory, opting for submission rather than driving in her point with a hammer. And her point was exactly? Lust wanted to scream at her own ineptitude. She didn't know what she wanted, she didn't know why she was here outside Wayne's extravagant apartment and, more importantly, she had absolutely no idea what she was going to do next. Would she bury her work on the Dent Case, or pursue it, a decision that would inevitably lead to Wayne's arrest. She had promised Wayne that she wouldn't do the latter, but, she reminded herself, she was an expert liar. Ordinarily she wouldn't have felt the slightest twinge of _anything_ regarding breaking her word and contacting the police with the identity of Batman, but somehow… she didn't want to. If she followed through and give everyone the impression that her assignment was a dead end, that would be easily enough arranged. But, Lust considered, turning left on Arrow Blv., if she _did_ turn the Batman in, her job and roll in the D.A.'s office would most probably get a whole lot more important, and interesting. With a furious growl, Lust decided that she was incapable of thinking straight on this matter, and it was doubtful that she would decide anything for quite some time. Instead of chasing her tail, Lust tried to place herself in mind's of her brother's. Envy would turn in the Batman. Self-serving, ruthless, backstabbing behavior was only natural for him. Greed on the other hand was a little trickier. Greed was, well, _greedy_, but he was also loyal to his friends and subordinates. Was Wayne a friend? Lust didn't know, and looked up, only to realize that she was standing in front of her apartment. The urge to scream promptly reappeared.

"You are useless, Crane."

"I had no idea that the _Batman_ would interfere," came the reply, which sounded as if the speaker was hissing through his teeth.

"Of course I understand, and obviously, I am not unsympathetic," the words were cool and professional, but gradually became lower, more menacing, "But you said she had inhaled your toxin. _So why is she not screaming into thin air at some hospital right now?_ I wanted to make an example of her! I don't want her going back to work stronger than ever!"

Crane's tone was still angry, but more diluted now, and had an edge that bordered on wary. "The Batman must have given her some sort of antidote."

The shadowed man seethed. "Up the concentration of the toxin then. Don't make any more mistakes, Crane. This is your last warning."

A long pause, then, "That _was_ the highest concentration of the toxin I have been able to produce without diminishing the integrity of the toxin." The words sounded vaguely apologetic, and then he added, "I'm honestly surprised at her resilience. She must have an incredible immune system if she was able to hold on to relative sanity long enough to receive the antidote." Crane sounded impressed, almost eager.

"I don't care. Finish her. Take away whatever sanity she has managed to retain. Her family, too. I want them out of the picture."

"And then?"

The man gave a derisive snort, "then you get your paycheck, Crane, and your job is done."

"No, I mean for you. Surely you must have some reason for targeting this lawyer. Is it the case she's working on-?"

The man hung up.

"What should we do?" Envy asked Lust, and she shrugged.

"There's nothing much we can do, at least, not right now."

"We can't just wait!" interjected Greed.

Lust narrowed her eyes. "Of course we can."

"It's our only option, I suppose," Envy considered. "Greed and I found out the identity of the Scarecrow, but not his whereabouts, so-"

"What is his identity?" Lust interrupted.

Envy glanced at her, "Jonathan Crane."

"Wasn't he the doctor that worked at Arkham?" Lust mused.

"I think so. Why was he dismissed?"

Lust frowned. "I don't think he was _dismissed_, exactly. Word was it he was doing experimentation on the patients there."

None of the homunculi batted an eye, or pretended to be disgusted or offended. Envy and Lust had both participated with the production of Stone's, and had been privy to several experiments in which Human Transmutation, or chimeras were the results.

"So," Greed said at last, "Where does that leave us?"

Lust drew in a deep breath of air, and then let it out. "I suppose we should expect further attacks and prepare for them. Walk into traps if we have to, if it'll help us catch the perpetrator. Then it should be simple enough to find out the one directly responsible for all this."

"I'm not sure how much I like this plan," Envy muttered.

Lust cocked her head and gave him a sweet smile. "You should, Envy. I'll even give you a treat." Envy suddenly looked more interested, and Lust continued, "When we catch this Scarecrow, Crane, whichever, I'll let you have your fun. You can do whatever you want to find the information we need."

Envy gave a sigh that bordered on sexually-aroused. "Thanks so much, Lust. It's been a really long time since I've tortured anyone for information." He grinned with delight. "Oh, man! This'll be fantastic!"

Greed's lips twitched upwards, but he didn't say a word.

Envy's stolen cell phone rang urgently, and Envy snapped it open, and glared at the screen, before his face broke into a vindictive smile. "What did you say," he began slowly, still smiling, "about springing traps?"

"What is it?" Lust asked, nerves and anticipation bubbling in her stomach.

"A guy called Vicky," Envy replied, his smile fixed on his face, "He said he has some more information for us, about the Scarecrow. He wants us to meet him in an hour."

"Obviously a trap," Greed said, a predatory grin crawling over his face.

"Perfect." Lust laughed.

An hour later Lust, Envy and Greed were waiting for Vicky to arrive. Lust had changed into a pair of comfortable pants and a fashionable, but still practical sweatshirt. She was hanging behind Envy with Greed to her right, both of them (hopefully) out of sight. Vicky arrived a few minutes later, a cold smile on his lips. Greed ground his teeth.

"Only you?" Vicky asked Envy, who had transformed into a tall, handsome blond man. Envy waved his phone around before placing it in his jacket pocket.

Envy raised his hands. "You said come alone. What do you have for me?"

Vicky smile grew. "The location of the Scarecrow."

"Oh?" Envy asked, his words nonplussed but laced with cruel amusement. "Do tell."

"Right here." It was another, slightly muffled voice from Envy's left.

The Scarecrow. Although all of the homunculi had expected this, Lust felt her eye widen, and saw Envy's do the same. The Scarecrow released the toxin into Envy's face, and Envy coughed, reeling backwards, before screaming in anger and transforming his arm into a steel blade, running it through Vicky's chest. Envy withdrew his arm and stumbled, "Bastard," he said weakly, glaring with bloodshot eyes at the Scarecrow.

The Scarecrow leaned in closer. "How did you do that?" he demanded.

Envy gave a short laugh, and transformed into his favorite body. "This?" he asked, his voice low and rough.

"Yes."

Envy glared at the Scarecrow, furious at both his weakness and the fact that he couldn't see the Scarecrow's face, which was sure to be painted with an expression that was probably very… gratifying. "Bastard," he repeated.

The Scarecrow withdrew. "The toxin will kick in shortly," he stated, and, as if on cue, Envy watched the air to the side of him blur, shifting into Father.

"Father?" he asked curiously, forgetting that this was an illusion.

Father remained impassive. "You seem to be human, Envy," he said, his powerful voice phrasing his sentence not as a question, but a statement.

Envy growled lowly, and Father touched his forehead, and his skin ripped apart revealing an eye in the center of his forehead. What looked vaguely like a red tear welled in the bottom of his eye, and dropped into Father's waiting hand. The eye in the middle of his forehead closed shut, disappearing as if it had never existed, and Father outstretched his hand towards Envy. "I'll make you a homunculus again," he intoned in a monotone, and Envy was suddenly filled with a terrified foreboding. He knew what was going to happen, he had seen it once before, _and he didn't want it to happen!_ He didn't want to be a homunculi again! Envy cried out in fear, scooting backward, away from Father.

"No!" he begged. "No, please!" He didn't want this! He had finally become human, finally obtained what he had envied for so long! His jealousy, the ever-present poison in his blood was all but gone! He never wanted to go back, to return to homunculi! "Please!" he screeched, and then covered his eyes and screaming with shock and terror.

Lust watched in growing disbelief as Envy huddled, screaming and screaming. She supposed she had done the same thing… but… it was still unnerving, watching Envy act this way.

"You're up, Lust," Greed murmured, and Lust nodded, complying. She shot her pointed finger nail forwards, and it snaked through the air, slicing through the Scarecrow's arm, revealing the contraption beneath. Lust destroyed it. Greed and Lust darted forwards, and Lust whipped her spear around to the Scarecrow's neck.

"Take off your mask," Lust ordered.

He did so, and the face beneath, a rather pretty face, Lust thought, was smiling savagely. "Are you going to kill me?" he asked, a faint laugh in his voice.

"You seem to know the answer already. Why don't you tell me."

His smile didn't falter, but now it was looking more like a sneer. "You're not."

"Oh? Really? May I ask why not?"

Scarecrow smirked. "Your unique friend doesn't have long. If you don't want him to be like that forever, you should probably hurry. Worrying about a body will only hinder that attempt."

Lust considered. "Go to Envy," she told Greed without looking at him, before addressing Crane. "I'll kill you," she said, "I'll track you down and rip your secrets from your body. Though I'll probably let Envy do the dirtier work. He'll enjoy that."

The Scarecrow shook his head. "I don't know much about my current employer, I'm afraid. If, perhaps, you're trying to find out his identity, we want the same thing."

Lust retracted her spear, and the Scarecrow smiled sardonically, and offered her a slight bow before fleeing. Lust ran towards Greed and Envy.

"He stopped screaming," Greed informed her, "But I think he's in shock. Or something nasty like that."

Envy was shivering on the ground, his eyes squeezed shut. He was rocking slightly up and down, and as she watched he began transforming from one form to the next at a rapid pace.

"What do we do?" Greed asked Lust.

Lust reached her hand into Envy's jacket pocket (the only thing that wasn't shifting, so she guessed he must have bought it) and took out his phone. She quickly turned it on and dialed a few numbers, pressing send and placing the phone at her ear.

A few rings, and then a beautiful voice answered, "Who is this?"

"Jayd Talon," Lust said quickly, "I need your help, Batman. The Scarecrow gave my brother the same toxin he used on me. We're at Willow Park. Please come quickly." She didn't give him any time to respond. She cancelled the call and turned off the phone.


	10. Chapter 10

A.N. By the way, the Tumbler is in here. I know it was destroyed in the Dark Knight, but I figure the Batman could repair it with Fox. Also… prepare yourself for… a FLASHBACK! XD

"Do you think he'll come?" Greed asked. He was sitting cross-legged besides Lust, who was crouching next to Envy's head. Envy had finally stopped his fevered, erratic shapeshifting, and had settled into his favorite form once again, but his eyes were dilated with fear, and his limbs were trembling in terror. He stared past Greed and Lust, unseeing and pale.

Lust allowed herself to fall slightly onto the ground. She glanced towards Greed and shrugged. "Probably."

Greed frowned. "If you don't know for sure, then shouldn't we take Envy to a hospital, instead of waiting for a man who may or may not actually come?"

"No. The Batman is, I believe, the only person with the antidote to the toxin."

"Envy could die."

"Yes, he could," Lust agreed, "but it's pointless to mourn something we haven't yet lost, or second guess our decisions. Those are things humans do."

Greed's eyes narrowed slightly, but he wasn't looking at Lust. "We're human," he mumbled, a slightly belligerent note in his words.

"Yes," Lust said, "But we didn't used to be. We have had centuries of time to not be human."

"Old habits die hard," Greed muttered, laughing under his breath.

"I suppose so."

Greed turned to stare at her. "This shouldn't have happened," he told Lust, "And I'm sorry."

Lust debated informing him that it wasn't his fault, but guessed that he wouldn't quite believe her. He _was_ sorry. His words mirrored those he had given her a while back _'"I'm sorry for what happened, Lust."'_ He meant it, really meant it, in a way that went beyond merely telling the truth. She could tell, after all: they had been lovers once.

_It had happened over a century ago, a decade before Greed's defection. It had started as an unusually close friendship, a fluid and effective partnership, sprinkled in with playful, harmless flirting that was trademark of both of them. One night, however, after the successful completion of an assignment, Lust and Greed had found themselves together and alone in a small apartment, and before either of them knew what was happening there clothes were on the ground, and their lips and bodies were mashed together. It was the first time either of them had been involved with a homunculus, and both of them would have agreed that it was a unique experience. Both were endowed with regenerative capabilities, increased durability, and exceptional strength. There was no holding back, no temperance. For Lust there was only that: lust, the desire for the pleasures of the body, and the fulfillment of those same craven desires. For Greed it was his avarice: his need to claim and possess her body, and maybe something more. For as they lay together, finally spent, their energy depleted, he murmured, so low that Lust could barely hear, so low that she wondered if _he_ could hear: "I love you." But instead of answering, Lust had instead remained still, pretending to sleep. Not because she loved him but was afraid to reply, but because she didn't._

"Lust?" Greed voice snapped her sharply from her reverie. She looked up.

"What is it?" she asked, relieved to know that her voice was unchanged.

He stared at her for a second, curiously, before saying, "I think I see something."

He turned his head, and Lust focused on his line of sight. A small, black shape was speeding from the softer darkness, steadily growing bigger as it neared them.

"What _is_ that?" Greed asked in horrified wonder. "It looks like some type of… car?" The last word was spoken somewhat hesitantly, it almost looked like a tank.

The tank/car screeched to a stop beside them, and both Greed and Lust jumped into standing positions.

The front section of the machine hissed open, and a familiar black-suited shape climbed out. In his hand was a small cylindrical shape filled with clear, silvery liquid and capped with a sharp point.

Greed nudging Lust. "That-"

"I know," Lust said irritably, turning to Wayne, and pointing to Envy.

"He's your brother?" the Batman asked in a raspy monotone, which was beginning to grate on Lust's nerves, but she answered nonetheless.

"He is." Lust bent down, and, with the help of Greed, managed to haul Envy up into a limp, but standing position.

The Batman inserted the needle into inside of Envy's arm, pressing down until the silvery liquid had been drained. Envy's whimpers receded, and he seemed to relax, his eyes drooping shut. Lust and Greed eased him to the ground. Lust faced the Batman, inclining her head in thanks, before she, rather reluctantly, voiced the words.

The Batman didn't reply, but his eyes bored into hers, and Lust found herself appreciating the dark glow in them. He jumped back into his car. "See you soon," he said, and Lust could have sworn she saw him smile.

The tank/car speed away, and Lust turned back to Envy and Greed. "How is he?" she asked.

"Unconscious."

"He looks a bit better, though," Lust commented lightly.

Greed shrugged, then turned his face towards Lust. "You know that next time, it'll probably be you or me like that," at that, he gestured to Envy.

Lust refused to comment, letting Greed continue.

"We're being targeted by the Scarecrow, let alone whoever is behind this."

"Your point?" Lust asked, not coldly, but curiously. She would happily welcome any ideas on how to solve their problem.

"Maybe we should, ah," Greed gave a tiny grin, "do what most people do when bad guys come knocking. Ask for help." At Lust's blank expression he rolled his eyes. "The Batman!"

"I'll contact him," Lust promised, but then added, "I don't know what good it'll do, though."

"Better safe than sorry?" Greed asked with semi-mocking hopefulness.

"Maybe." Lust fell silent, turning her attention to Envy. "Let's get him home," she said.

Lust and Greed both took hold of two limbs, Lust carrying his arms, and Greed his legs. As they tried to drag him out of the park, Greed groaned, "He's heavy."

It was true. Although Envy's form changed, his mass remained constant, so his slender body belied his true size.

"Armor up, then," Lust suggested tartly, and watched as Greed's shield spread over his arms and neck, presumably everywhere but his head, for obvious reasons. Greed lifted Envy singlehandedly, tossing Envy over his shoulder. "This is better!"

Now unburdened by Envy, Lust walked side-by-side with Greed out of the now hated park, taking shortcuts to the apartment so they wouldn't be spotted.

At the apartment, Lust opened the door, and allowed Greed, and, by default, Envy inside, before shutting and locking it.

Greed deposited Envy on the couch, and removed his shield, stretching. "Some night, huh?" he asked, teasingly.

Lust smiled slightly.


	11. Chapter 11

A.N. I don't think I'm going to put the Joker into this. I figure he's at Arkham, so it would be hard for Greed to see him. Yeah, it is pretty weird, Envy being afraid of being a homunculi, but it thought it sort of made sense. Wonder what Greed is afraid of?... XD

"Sir," Lust said, in what she hoped was a suitably demure tone, to the recently appointed head D.A., "I believe that the Batman/Dent case is getting nowhere."

"Really?" Mr. Dean asked, a trace of undisguised sarcasm in his voice which Lust heavily resented. She dropped her demure masquerade, and continued:

"The Batman is a masked vigilante who few have actually seen. He has proved time and time again that he has considerable resources at his disposal which allow him to avoid detection from the police. If, to retain good press, you do not wish to officially drop the case, fine, but please put me on another case where I can actually utilize my talents, and not waste them." By the time Lust was finished, her voice was hard and cold, and she could have sworn that she saw her employer actually flinch back.

He clenched his hands together. "Ah, very well, Miss Talon. I'll take what you have said into consideration." 

"And?" Lust demanded brashly.

He blinked several times. "I, ah, assure you that I'll have my decision by tomorrow morning." He backed away from Lust like one would retreat from a snarling dog, and Lust smiled, calling out to him as he opened the door and stepped through,

"I trust you to make the right decision, Mr. Dean." He didn't reply, and Lust allowed herself a tiny smirk. She had thoroughly intimidated him, and was sure that she would be excused from the Batman case. Even if another was put on the case, she doubted they would get anywhere, and would be sure to warn Wayne who was working on it. She exited Dean's office, and continued on to her own. There was one more thing to do, but first, she would somehow have to get rid of that insufferable Stacy girl.

"Stacy?" she asked, feigning sweetness as she entered her office, allowing her door to snap shut behind her.

Stacy looked up from her notes, startled. "Um, yes?" Her eyes were wet and unpleasantly bloodshot, and she had neglected to wear mascara, possibly anticipating something like this occurring.

"Are you well?" Lust asked, pressing fake concern into her tone.

Stacy sniffled, her bottom lip trembling slightly, then burst into tears. She sobbed, then gasped for breath, and Lust plucked a tissue from the girl's desk, deftly inserting it into her hand. Stacy clenched the Kleenex as if she were a woman sinking into quicksand and desperately clutching onto an overhanging vine, and pressed it against her eyes, rubbing furiously. Her tears began to stain the thin paper, but Stacy showed no signs of stopping.

"Breathe," Lust commanded, "Deep breaths in."

Stacy tried to obey, and calmed down slightly, blowing her nose and balling up the tissue, placing it gently on her desk. "I'm okay," she said, but her voice cracked and showed signs of breaking.

"What's wrong?" This time, Lust didn't have to fake the concern in her voice. If her assistant was unstable, this wouldn't bode well for her career. Perhaps Stacy had depression. Or was bipolar.

"My… my…."

"Yes?" Lust prodded impatiently.

"My boyfriend broke up with me!" Stacy wailed, tears' streaming in floods out of her eyes and down her cheeks.

Oh. "So what?"

Stacy seemed shocked into silence. Her tears dripped down her chin and onto the desk, but no new ones emerged from her eyes. She blinked. "Huh?"

"Well, why did he break up with you?"

"Well… I caught him with another girl." Stacy frowned, and her eyes sparkled angrily. "And then I told him 'If you want to see other woman, maybe you shouldn't be seeing me', but I suppose I only meant it as a warning, but he said 'Fine' and walked out."

"Well," Lust began slowly, slightly confused, "That's better for you then."

"What?"

"Were you living together?"

"Well, no, but-"

"And he _was_ cheating on you."

"Well, yes, but-"

"So it sounds like he did you a favor."

"I guess, but-"

Lust sighed, but a touch of pity was beginning to stir in her at Stacy's plight. "Answer me this, then," she said, and Stacy froze, listening intently, "If he came back to you, apologized, and begged your forgiveness, would you want to date him again?"

Stacy didn't hesitate. "No way! He was a dick!" She paused, frowning, seemingly understanding Lust's point. "Oh. Yeah." She broke into a sudden smile, beaming at Lust. "Thanks so much! You really put it into perspective."

"You're welcome," Lust said, slightly unnerved by the girl's sudden mood shift. "Listen, Stacy," she began, "I have a favor to ask."

"Yeah?" Stacy looked up eagerly. Lust had no doubt that if she asked the girl to arrange a meeting with the President of the United States, she would happily oblige.

"I want you to take a message for me to my brother."

"Um, okay."

"It's a little unusual, but I assure you, its relevant to my work, so I would really appreciate it. I've tried calling him, but both the landline and cell phone seem to be out of service… so…."

Stacy jumped up. "Sure thing!"

Lust handed her a letter, and Stacy tucked it into her pocket. Lust noticed she was wearing a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt that was several sizes too large for her. Not exactly appropriate work attire. "The address is on the front of the envelope, and, Miss Johnson?"

"Yeah?"

"Please wear appropriate clothes."

"I'm only eighteen!" Stacy caught Lust's expression, and added hastily, "But, okay, sure, definitely." She dashed out of the office.

The doorbell chimed, and Envy glowered at Greed. "Go get it."

"Why don't you?"

Envy pretended not to hear him, and with an eye roll, Greed leaped up, and opened the door. To his equal confusion and delight, and pretty girl with bright blue eyes and a slightly harried expression was standing behind it.

"Hello," Greed said, giving her a slight smile. "What can I do for you?"

Her eyes darted from her pocket to him and back again. "Are… um, are you Miss Talon's brother?"

"You mean-" Greed broke off, about to say _Lust_ before remembering that the girl wouldn't know Lust by that name. "Yes, I am. Who are you?"

"Stacy Johnson," she said vaguely, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a letter. "She said to give this to you."

Greed took it, and examined it. "Okay." He looked up at the girl and grinned. "Come on in," he invited, "You look pretty tired. I hope Lust didn't make you walk all the way."

"Oh, I ran actually," she said distractedly, and hovered hesitantly by the door for a second, before stepping in. "Man, it's really hot in here."

Greed thought it was actually very cool, but didn't say a word.

Stacy pulled off her baggy sweatshirt, revealing a tight t-shirt underneath, pulled tight against an amazing figure. She turned back to him and smiled, offering her hand. "Stacy," she offered.

"Ling," Greed said, not exactly lying. After all, he was wearing a body that was identical to Ling's.

She flushed red, and looked away. "Nice to meet you," she mumbled, then darted to the door, offering hasty excuses before vanishing with impressive speed.

Greed sighed, hoping to see her again, before ripping open the letter. It read: _Greed (or Envy) if you want the Batman's help, I suppose you'll have to ask yourself. The number is below._ True enough, below the signature of Lust's pseudonym was a string of numbers. Ask for help, huh? Greed figured he would do just that.

"Another failure to report, Crane?"

The man imagined Crane scowling bitterly before the answer came through, slowly and deliberately. "The Batman must have intervened again. Not only that, but they must have anticipated it was a trap. They were ready." A pause, and then Crane's next words were slightly uncertain, "I don't think that this Talon woman is entirely… human."

"No?"

"I think… she had some sort of control over…." He broke off.

"Interesting," the man said sarcastically, "But I _fear_ I will have to fire you."

"What?"

"You've failed me twice, Crane. I gave you the benefit of the doubt the first time, but I never give third chances."

Crane remained silent, but his breathing sounded labored with anger. The phone suddenly clicked off, and the man gave a cross between a snarl and a laugh. Crane could hang up on him. But Crane wasn't going to be around to do that much longer.

Crane tossed the phone away. It was just as well that he hadn't gone into detail about Talon's abilities then. Or the blond man's… the androgynous child's… whichever he or she was… the shapeshifter. He smiled grimly. He would find out himself, then.

Stacy hadn't returned yet, and Lust hoped she wouldn't, at least not yet. She was researching the Scarecrow, and hoped her overly enthusiastic assistant wouldn't be around to ask any questions. She sighed, and typed a query into the search engine, clicking go.


	12. Chapter 12

A.N. Hm… I don't know what Envy's name would be. I suspect he'd probably give a different one in each form, probably not sticking to one in particular, seeing as there's no real need for him to do so. Also, I don't know if Greed's fear-torture would be seeing his friends die. That would probably piss him off, but I don't think that would scare him. Hehe, I can wait to find an excuse for Greed to inhale some of the Scarecrow's toxin…. (evil leer). Talking about Scarecrow… I'm still not quite sure what to do with him.

Although Talon's address hadn't been listed on any company records or whatnot, Crane still had contacts in high places, and his survival mechanism (he was well aware that he was now just as much a target as Talon was) had motivated him to utilize them as opposed to saving their assistance for a later date. He had followed Talon for some time, not to kill her, he knew killing her, at this point, would not bring him in his employer's good graces, but to request her help. He suspected they both wanted the same thing- his former employer dead. If not out of any noble desire, but rather the drive to survive at any cost. And also… he _really_ wanted to discover her secret- the one that allowed her to extend her fingers into razor-sharp killing devices. And her friend, who somehow managed to control his (or her) body to such an extent that her (or his) every feature could very well be a clever lie. Crane was intrigued.

Greed was furious. He had called the number Lust had given him thirteen times yesterday, twenty times the day before, and now, today was at an even twenty-eight. And counting. He punched in the buttons again then slammed his finger down on 'send' as if it had done him a great wrong. Feeling the need to tear the stupid (ingenious) contraption to shreds with his bare teeth, he instead lifted it to his ear with unnecessary jerking of his limbs and listened to hear the rings from Wayne's unanswerable phone mock him six times. Wait. Greed paused, his body tense with suppressed hope. Six times?

"What do you want?" a tightly controlled voice from the other line greeted, and Greed felt himself flood with pathetic ecstasy. He felt like crying streams of rainbows and laughing sunlight and unicorns before he mentally berated himself, replacing those weak, sunlit visions with the thought of strangling Wayne to death for not answering him the first sixty-one times he had called.

"Hello, Mr. Wayne," he replied tensely.

"If you don't tell me why you've been calling me nonstop for three day, I'm going to hang up, then file a restraining order."

"If you say so. The last thing I want right now is to be in a mile radius of you." Greed continued quickly, before Wayne could hang up, "Unfortunately, me and my sister have agreed-"

"Your sister? Did I date her?" Wayne's tone became slightly more wary, "If you're related to that Blake woman, you might as well-"

"Talon is my sister!" Greed snapped, interrupting Wayne in much the same fashion Wayne had interrupted him, and retribution was very sweet. "Jayd Talon, lunatic, Jayd Talon." Greed didn't know what had gotten into him. He was usually incredibly laid-back, to the point of it being a fault. Of course, this was the first time in his life that he had spent three days straight doing nothing but constantly calling an unresponsive source. He missed his chimera's very much.

Wayne was silent for a minute, and when he spoke, his tone was guarded, but slightly less harsh. "Talon?" he asked. "What did she want?"

"Be more respectful," Greed said, attempting lightness, then added in a voice that bordered on grudging, "She dropped your case. I don't think the Batman will have to worry about any more problems from the legal department."

"Well…" Wayne seemed at a loss for words, "Tell her I appreciate it. She sacrificed a lot in making that decision."

"You don't understand her, do you? Lu- Jayd doesn't do anything out of the kindness of her heart. She's calculating and cold. If she made her boss drop your case, then there's a purpose behind it."

"Probably."

Greed was unwilling to drop the subject, but he forced himself to remain on track. "She's being targeted by the Scarecrow. Actually, Scarecrow was only the tool. Someone bigger wants her dead."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. I thought the Batman would help. Can you?"

A slight pause, "I'll see what I can do." The phone went dead. Greed rolled his eyes, irritated inexplicably by the Batman. He shoved the phone in his pocket, and glanced around himself at his settings. A silver-hued café and a myriad of brightly colored, assorted shops. The table he was sitting at was decorated with a collage of scratches, and underneath his chair, multi-colored gum formed a mural of inspired stickiness. Around the ground were the shadows of the looming apartment buildings and skyscrapers. Surrounding his chosen spot was a road thick with traffic, and sleek cars, modeled aerodynamically honked at each other while their drivers occasionally threatened physical violence on one another, all contributing to the bizarre scene. In Dublith, there had been fighting, both public and not, but nothing quite like this. Even in Central, the bystanders and car drivers had been more considerate then _this_. And Greed knew that this was only scratching the surface. He gave a slight smile, amazed, but indifferent.

"Um, hello?" A sweetly familiar, though hesitant voice from above drew Greed's attention away from the street. Stacy was standing beside his table, one hand clutching a coffee, and the other was resting stiffly at her side. She looked uncertain, and nervous.

"Stacy!" Greed grinned up at her, and stole an empty seat from a nearby table. "Wanna sit down?" he asked.

She paused, blushed, and then smiled. "Sure." She eased herself into the chair, and then began to slurp her drink. Greed found himself admiring the curve of her lips, and the rich color in her eyes.

"Still working for my sister?" he asked.

"Uh-huh. I'm on break."

"How did you get that job so young, anyway?"

Stacy took another sip, and then placed the cup against the table, never fully removing her hand. "I got really good grades my first year of college. I, uh, couldn't really go back next year, and the D.A.'s office here is so starved for help…." She let her words trail off.

"You got lucky, then."

"I guess I did. Miss Talon really helped me out though. She requested I be given a full time job. I really owe her."

"Hm."

Stacy looked up suddenly. "You know, you have really pretty eyes."

"You think so?" Greed teased.

Stacy nodded grimly. "Uh-huh. You've got purple irises," she broke off, seemingly embarrassed, but continued, "Real purple. You're sister does, too, so I guess it must be a family trait or something, but," she squinted, and Greed felt his flesh heat up slightly under her gaze. "I don't know. Yours are a little lighter. I think maybe-" a soft beeping came from her watch, and she stopped. "I'm sorry," she said, standing up, "My break is over. Got to run!" She tossed her coffee in a nearby trash can, and then sprinted off.

Greed sat back. "I guess she was really serious about running," he murmured to himself, wondering if she was quite sane, but secretly disappointed that she had left so quickly.

Lust's new case had given her little trouble, and she was done early. She left her office, telling Stacy to remember to lock the door, and then began walking home. Her apartment was dark, though unlocked. When she entered, she switched on the lights, coming face to face with none other than the Scarecrow. Her heart soared and pounded with both fear and delight. Now she wouldn't have to hunt him down. He had come himself, and she could kill him now. Well… not kill him per say. At least not right away. She dropped her briefcase, and snapped her spears outwards, one touching his neck, the other his wrist where she knew his hated fear toxin was stored, ready to terrify. "Don't move," she breathed, then added, as she had done before, "Take off your mask." If she was going to get the toxin in her lungs, then he certainly would too. Once again he complied.

"What do you want?" Lust asked, for certainly he wouldn't have come here, unaided save for his toxin, without a cause.

His answer surprised her. "I come in peace, Miss Talon," he said, an edge of taunt in his voice, but added more seriously, "I'm here to help."

"I don't remember asking."

"Hm. My mistake. I assumed we wanted the same thing."

"Which is?" Lust asked.

"I already told you." He smiled. "Can you remember?"

'_I don't know much about my current employer, I'm afraid. If, perhaps, you're trying to find out his identity, we want the same thing.'_

"The… identity… of your employer?" Lust asked cautiously.

"My former employer, actually. When I failed twice in my objective, my life is just as much at stake as yours."

"So?"

A frustrated note entered the Scarecrow's voice, "We both want him dead, Miss Talon. Why don't we work together to accomplish that?"


	13. Chapter 13

A.N. I think you're on to something with Greed's fear. I don't think it has to be about immortality, though, that could get a little complicated. It could just be Greed being all alone. Also, for all you guys, what do you think the wackiest pairing in this story would be, and why? Hehe.

Lust considered the Scarecrow's words with deliberate, obvious care. She left a few seconds slide past, hoping for some sign of anxiety to show on the Scarecrow's face, but to her dismay, found none. She forced her own face to remain neutral, though her upper lip twitched slightly. A few more seconds- though her decision had been made approximately half a minute ago- and allowed herself to scowl slightly at her former tormentor.

"Made up your mind?" he asked, his voice still smeared with that smug politeness that Lust found so infuriating.

"I have." She paused, mostly for effect, and then added, "I hate you, you know," she said impassively.

"Just to clarify, then."

Lust ignored him, and felt a small, childish burst of pleasure when she saw Crane's face twist before he smoothed it back into an emotionless mask. "But I will work with you."

"Oh, really?" Crane asked suspiciously. It seemed, for all his attempts to win her over as an ally, he distrusted her nearly as much as she distrusted him.

"I've already explained my feelings towards you, so I suppose I don't have to repeat them, but I'd rather kill the man who sent you after me then you, at least for now." Lust wasn't lying. She'd rather see Crane's former employer with a gaping hole in his chest then the Scarecrow, but Crane took a close second. Undoubtedly, he was aware of that fact. Crane relaxed slightly, and Lust used that moment to strike. She had positioned her fingers for a killing blow the second she had seen him in her apartment, it was only the simple matter of adjusting them slightly to ensure minimal damage. One spear lashed out against his side, and he instinctively brought his hands to dampen the wound, shock and pain flitting across his face before fear and betrayal had time to occupy it. Lust darted forward, and slammed her elbow against Crane's temple. Although Lust's strength had been much higher as a homunculi, even in human form, she was still naturally stronger and more precise in her movements then most mortals. The blow knocked him unconscious, and he went limb, falling gracelessly to the ground, ending up in a crumpled heap on the floor. Lust gave him a sharp kick to the stomach, and when he didn't react, she bent down, pressing two fingers against his jugular vein. His pulse throbbed under the tips of her fingers, even and steady. Lust rolled up his sleeve and carefully removed the contraption that was full of fear toxin, placing it on the counter. Lust smiled in grim satisfaction, and stood up, hauling Scarecrow out of her apartment. Giving him another kick, this one lighter and teasing- Lust was still filled with lovely happy-chemicals at her victory- Lust returned to the apartment, and picked up the phone. It seemed to be working fine now, and Lust quickly dialed 9-11. She did want to work with Scarecrow; she just didn't know whether or not to believe him. She didn't want the pressure of having an ally who she was constantly worried might stab her in the back- or spray her with fear toxin in the face. There was only one failsafe way to find out if Scarecrow was telling the truth. Send him to jail.

Envy patrolled outside of Crane's holding cell. He was due to go to trial in a few short days, but until then….

Envy paced back and forth. He was transformed into a police officer called 'Dallas', the real Officer Dallas, a man with a nasty reputation for being corrupt, stuffed in a dumpster somewhere outback pumped full of stolen tranquilizer, and his partner out on a coffee break. Dallas wouldn't wake up for another twenty hours or so, and both Envy and Lust had agreed that if nobody had made an attempt on Crane's life by that time, he would stay in that cell for quite some time, and the former homunculi would just have to find another source with connections to Crane's boss.

A soft laughter sounded from behind Envy, and he paused, turning around. Crane gave him a small, vicious smile, and Envy returned the gesture with a huge, enthusiastic grin that reeked of malice. Crane seemed momentarily taken aback, and Envy knew why. The grin didn't seem quite _right_, it looked off somehow, a reminder, perhaps, of what really lurked below. Crane, however, seemed to regain control within seconds, his enchantingly cruel expression returning quickly.

"What do you want, Scarecrow?" Envy asked. He was still bitter and furious and _humiliated_ about the incident with the fear toxin, but, despite himself, was somewhat impressed with Crane's ingenuity and sadistic ruthlessness. Creative displays of cruelty never failed to fascinate him.

Crane gave another smirk of a smile, and said, "I hope you know how to use that, Mr. Dallas." At 'that' he gestured to Envy's gun, which he had stolen from the real Dallas.

Envy leaned closer. He wasn't worried about the security camera's picking up anything, he had arranged for them to be inactive for the next day or so. "Was that a threat, Crane?" he murmured, intrigued and excited by the prospect.

Crane merely smiled again. "Its whatever you make it, officer. But, no, I wasn't threatening you."

Envy wrapped his hands around Crane's bars, pressing his face up against them. He couldn't conceal the anticipation from his face- and didn't try. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Crane shrugged, amusement still obvious on his features, and pulled back.

A sharp sound behind Envy made him pull back. A tall, well-built man stood behind him. He was smiling slightly. "Officer?" he asked softly.

Envy felt a rush of pleasure. "What are you doing here?" he asked the man, who grinned, and stepped closer, pressing a wad of cash into Envy's palm.

"Nothing you'll object to," he promised, drawing a gun from inside his jacket. Envy saw fear flash across Crane's face, before the man concealed it. The man with the gun continued, "Just turn away for a second and tell them I forced you. I know the camera's are down. What do you say, hm?" The man waved the gun pointedly, the threat less then blatant.

_I say Lust's going to be thrilled_ he considered saying, but instead told him, with a tiny grin, "I'll unlock the door." The man grinned in triumph, and Envy laughed along with him. He did as he promised and unlocked the door, but the man clearly was something of an amateur, for he turned his back on Envy for a split second. Envy drew Dallas's gun from its holster and fired once at the man, hitting him in the stomach. The man moaned, and bent over double, clutching his abdomen with both hands, his fingers slowly turning red, his gun at his side. Envy flashed him a smile, and leapt forward, grabbing the clearly bewildered Crane. "Let's go," he commanded, and both he and Crane raced out of the building via the back entrance. A few cops were behind the door, but none of them had time to draw their pistols as Crane and Envy (still disguised as Dallas) ran past. After a few blocks, Envy pulled Crane into a deserted, shadowed alley.

"How are you?" he asked, but not out of concern.

Crane stared at him incredulously. "Are you insane?" he demanded.

"Very possibly," Envy admitted, and then added in a low chuckle, "You would know, right?"

"Amusing. What do you want?"

"What do _I_ want?" Envy asked in mock-surprise, "No thank you? I saved your life, by the way." Envy didn't add that it was his and his siblings' fault that Crane had been in jail.

"Thank you," Crane sneered. "What do you want with me?"

"You mean, 'What did _you_ want with us?'." Envy's face and voice hardened, "Our fears, maybe. Although you've gotten two out of three, Crane. Impressive."

"What are you talking about, officer?"

"_Officer_?" Envy grinned suddenly, "Oh wait, right! My bad! I'll be happy to make you understand, Doctor." He laughed in delight, and a red light crackled around his body, transforming it. Envy's laughter turned into sounds of hysteria, as the light faded, and he wore his favorite body, that of a slender, androgynous youth with long, spiked black hair and purple homunculus eyes that mirrored those of his true form. Envy ran a hand through his hair, smiling.

Crane froze. "You. Shape shifter."

"I have a name."

"Oh really?"

"It's Envy. My sister, the one who knocked you out by the way, is Lust. Our bastard of a brother is Greed."

"Envy…" Crane said, and then his eyes suddenly burned. "Lust… Talon! She betrayed me!"

Envy shrugged. "She was just being practical. We had to see if you could be trusted. I guess you can."

"I suppose I can."

Crane was fascinated with Envy. The way his body morphed and transformed… amazing. The moment they had returned to Talon's… Lust's… apartment, he had first retrieved his precious fear toxin and then asked Envy how his body worked.

Envy had grinned again; a huge, savage grin that Crane thought best suited the face he was currently wearing, though he could not say whether or not that was his true form. Envy had responded that he didn't exactly know how he did it; he just focused on an image, and sort of mentally pulled on his body. The trickier parts, his organs and such, moved on their own.

Crane had told Envy that that must take an enormous amount of self-control, but Envy had seemed to find that quite funny, for he laughed for three straight minutes. Finally, tears streaming down his cheeks, he had replied that it was probably his turn to ask the questions, which was where they were now.

"That fear toxin of yours… how to you make it?"

Crane grinned with genuine pleasure. "A blue poppy in Asia, actually. The flower alone has hallucinogenic properties; from there it was merely a matter of weaponizing it. It won't bore you with the specifics."

Envy nodded, his eyes fixated on Crane's device with something resembling a mix of avarice and envy. "Very nice," he complimented, looking up at Crane, who found himself marveling at the shade of his eyes.

"Is that you're real eye color?" he asked.

Envy placed a finger beside his eye. "Yeah," he said, slightly reluctantly, "It's mine."

"I don't know if that shade exists among humans," Crane continued, before remembering that Envy wasn't exactly human. "Sorry if I offended you," he added.

"No problem."

Crane wanted to ask him a few more questions, primarily ones related to his true appearance or his curious fear, but decided against it.

"My turn," Envy said, suddenly cheery again. "What made you make the toxin?"

Crane shrugged. "I have always been intrigued with fear. The flower was a… gift, I suppose you could say."

Envy nodded, but seemed to want to ask more. He didn't.

"Well…," Crane said, slightly awkwardly. He wasn't used to being put off balance, but assumed it was Envy's vaguely unnerving presence that confused him.

Envy picked up the slack, his voice suddenly professional, and Crane noticed that Lust had reappeared, a young man with black hair pulled into a ponytail beside her, "What can you tell me about your boss?"

"_Former_ boss," Crane corrected, but added, "I'm afraid not much. I only spoke to him over the phone. You'll have to be a bit more specific with your questions."

Lust sighed, and Crane felt a surge of hatred for the woman, though even he had to admit she was ruthlessly efficient. The way she had assured his honesty and showed him what she was capable of, and willing to do, in one stroke was admirable, to say the least. She was certainly impressive, even if he despised her. Lust.

The one beside Lust, the one Crane assumed was Greed asked, "Let's start with the basics. Male or female?"

"Male."

"How old? Any accent?"

"Probably in his late twenties to middle age, though it could be off. No accent."

"Is there anything else you can tell us?"

Crane shook his head. "Only that I don't know what he wants with Talon. I think it has something to do with the Batman/Dent case, but you've probably deduced that for yourself."

"So, basically, you can't tell us anything we didn't already know," Lust sneered. "You're useless."

Crane ground his teeth.

"Well, Envy," she said, her voice suddenly soft and playful, "You can kill him."

Crane twisted his head around, preparing to flee, but knowing he wouldn't get far. Envy's violet eyes widened, and his face furrowed with indecision. "Um, I don't think so Lust."

"What?" Lust asked, and Crane couldn't quite say he blamed her. He was thinking the same thing.

Envy tensed his muscles. He sounded slightly embarrassed. "Well, he could be of some us, Lust. What with the fear toxin and all. He knows how to use it best, and is probably the only one who can make it." He's face suddenly broke into a wide smile, "What better torture is there?"

Lust narrowed her eyes, but nodded. "Fine. He'll stay with us."

Envy grinned.


	14. Chapter 14

A.N. About the homunculi in Gotham- really long story that involves me watching the Dark Knight, then drawing what the homunculi would looking like in Gotham- wait, that actually wasn't that long, was it? Also the three homunculi are my favorites, too. I had to find an excuse to get rid of Sloth and Gluttony… hehe. I don't really care about Wrath, but since he wasn't really a homunculi, he was more of a human, I thought it made sense that he wouldn't be able to come through. By the way, female Envy and Bruce Wayne! Man, that sounds twisted! Haha, I should totally do that! Kidding.

_Lust dreamed and in her dreams she was once again wrapped around her stranger/lover, kissing him fiercely and feeling his similar need as he kissed her back with equal intensity, then moved his lips to the sensitive spot between her breasts, where her Oroborus tattoo had once sat…. And as she ran her hands through his hair, it occurred to her that she still didn't know the identity of her lover, and like last time she was torn between discovering who was touching and caressing her with such heat, versus the bliss and ease of mystery. Only, this time she decided to turn his head to face her, but with an odd mix of disappointment and relief that only the dreamworld can pull off flawlessly she still could not tell who it was, for his face blurred and changed until she grew bored of watching it, and instead returned to the rest of his body…. _

_Envy dreamed and his dreams were of glee and torment and rage and laughter. He danced around scarlet stained fields that were littered with bones and old ruins, his form rippling and twisting and twining as he giggled and laughed in a chorus of delighted mania, waving his arms around and spinning and shrieking into the air which was smoky with fear gas, though Envy seemed to be immune…._

_Greed dreamed and his dreams were fractured memories and made-up illusions that crashed together at random intervals. In some he was with Lust, in his old body, watching her violet eyes flash with a dangerous, pleased glow, glittering like a wild animal that has just recently fed... her long black hair spread like a sheet beneath her, silky and dark as a panther's coat…. And then the images changed into Stacy smiling sweetly at him, now in Ling's body, before pointing to her watching like the White Rabbit from the movie Envy had made him watch, whispering to him in a deranged murmur that she had to run…. And then the background changed, and Greed was all alone in the middle of Gotham, not a soul in sight. And Greed wandered but still could not see a single person, and he screamed and screamed and screamed, all alone…. A voice around made him turn with eager haste, and Greed saw the slight, golden haired golden eyed form of Edward Elric, somehow in Gotham, and when Greed asked him how he had gotten here, Ed merely smiled sadly, and shook his head, saying 'Greed… that's never been what you wanted….', and promptly vanished, and Greed was all alone again…. And then the images changed again, and Greed was sitting on a bench with Envy, who, for once, did not hide behind false flesh, but wore his true form, albeit without the souls that had come with the stone, looking huge and monstrous, but grinning all the same. Greed asked Envy why he did it, meaning transform into other things, and Envy replied with a bitter laugh that Greed couldn't honestly imagine him waltzing around looking that this in public, could he? Greed just shrugged and smiled…._

Greed awoke with a start, rubbing his forehead, trying to recall his dreams. For a split second, he remembered everything, before it promptly vanished, leaving him with only the lingering sensations of loneliness and lust. Greed groaned, and, with a disturbing feeling of intense gluttony, his thoughts became utterly fixated on the conquest of the fridge, and Greed wandered into the kitchen. Seated beside the table was Crane, apparently fiddling with his fear gas contraption. Or whatever it was called. Greed had considered himself fortunate not to have been on the receiving end of the toxin, unlike his other siblings, and as he tiptoed around Crane, he found that his appetite had vanished. Holding his breath for a minute before he realized that was ridiculous, Greed exhaled, and the noise seemed to draw Crane's attention towards the avaricious homunculi. Greed noted with no small pleasure that Crane seemed to look quite tired, and his vicious delight only increased when he saw the bruise on Crane's temple that he knew Lust had inflicted.

"What are you doing?" Greed asked, less out of curiosity then the desire to annoy the Scarecrow.

"What does it look like?" Crane asked, managing to sound patronizing and arrogant even though his obvious sleepiness.

Greed gave a lazy grin. "I dunno doc. You tell me."

Crane glanced up at him, and his eyes suddenly sharpened. "Maybe. If you tell me something."

"What?" Greed asked warily. He recognized Crane's expression as one that he himself had worn on multiple occasions. Trying to find out from Edward Elric how he had bound his brother's soul to armor in particular popped up.

Crane shrugged, smiling slightly, apparently amused by Greed's reluctance. "Both your sister and your brother have remarkable abilities. It's really quite astonishing. Your brother seems to be able to-"

Greed cut him off with a violent shake of his head. "To the point, please, doctor."

Crane scowled at him. "Do you share your sibling's powers?" he asked testily.

Greed grinned, though the expression was slightly forced. "Not like they do. Mine is way cooler," he boasted, raising his hand to demonstrate. Although Crane may have been one of his least favorite people, Greed was never one to turn down the opportunity to show off. He pulled his shield over his fingertips and fingers, slowing moving down his hand, before letting it stop at his wrists. He turned his hand back and forth. "Neat, right?"

To his dismay, Crane only gave a short nod. "How does it work?" he asked at last.

"I can adjust the carbon in my body, so that I can make my skin as hard as diamond," Greed explained, still admiring his hand.

Crane gave another nod, returning to his nefarious little device.

"My turn." Greed let his shield recede until only pale flesh remained, glaring at Crane as if daring him to renege on his deal.

"I'm just adjusting the amount of the gas that my contraption would-"

"Squirt."

Crane continued, raising his voice a fraction of a degree, stilling opting for condescension over overt signs of anger "spray. Since we are," Crane paused, grinding his teeth, "allies, I suppose I wouldn't want you inhaling any of my toxin by mistake." Crane smiled slightly, as if envisioning Greed writhing on the floor, screaming into the air at phantoms that only he could see.

"What was that?" Lust asked, walking into the kitchen and taking a seat next to Greed, her eyes brimming with fury.

Greed gulped, even though he knew that he wasn't to target of Lust's anger. Even Crane looked slightly nervous.

Lust examined Crane's face, before she broke out into a sudden, wicked grin, transforming into Envy. "Kidding!" he chuckled. "Man, you should have seen your face!"

"Where is Lust, anyway?" Greed asked.

Envy turned his attention to Greed, shrugging, his expression switching into that of neutral boredom. "I'm not sure. I think she left for work."

Crane gave a small laugh. "I can't believe your sister actually works in the D.A.'s office."

Envy grinned at him, "Right? I thought she was joking when she told me what job she'd gotten. I'd expected her to, uh, no offense, but do something like you, Crane. Well, sort of."

Crane smirked. "You mean, something along the lines of criminal behavior?"

Envy's grin widened. "Spot on."

Greed wondered if they even knew he was still in the room.

Lust rapped her knuckles against Wayne's door. He had left her a short message on her office phone, telling her that he wanted to meet. Another hard knock on the door, and it swung open. Lust breezed past Wayne, stepping inside. He shut the door.

"Alright," he said, his voice serious and unamused, not in the mood for small-talk or flirting. Lust recognized it as the voice of the Batman, minus the hoarse edge. "About the man that's been targeting you."

"Yes?"

Wayne glared at some spot in the distance. "I don't know who it is, but apparently he the Scarecrow's just as much a target as you are."

"I know that," Lust snapped, irritable and agitated despite what she knew were well-intentions from Wayne.

Wayne gave a slight smile, but there was no humor in it. "Then I guess we know just about the same."

Lust groaned in frustration. "You're the second person to tell me that."

"Second?" Wayne queried, suddenly suspicious.

Lust bit her lip, aware that she had, in her annoyance, reveled too much. "Why don't you come by my apartment, later," she suggested, "It'll be easier to show you." And also, she sort of wanted the Batman to punch the Scarecrow- at least a few times.


	15. Chapter 15

A.N. Well, I'm semi-introducing a familiar face in this chapter, but remember, he may not be like you'd imagine because it's Nolanverse and not regular Batman. Also, I don't think that anyone else from the homunculi's world is going to come through, but you never know for sure!

The door unlocked and Envy stiffened, but Greed merely glanced curiously at the twisting doorknob.

"It's probably Lust," he said absentmindedly, and it probably was, but wasn't Lust at work? He reassured himself; Lust had mentioned that her new case was ridiculously easy and straightforward, with no complications to speak of, and Greed guessed that she must have finished earlier than usual.

The door creaked open, and Lust sauntered in, smirking slightly, her eyes glimmering with a purple shine that promised trouble. Her eyes flicked over Greed then Envy, and when they turned to the Scarecrow, her smirk widened, looking closer to Envy's wicked grin. Behind her, walking in the apartment at a slower, more tentative pace was- who was that again? Oh, right, Bruce Wayne- the Batman, at least according to Lust, who Greed was semi-reluctant to trust completely. Just as Lust's eyes had done, Wayne's wandered from face to face, and, also like Lust, when they settled on the homunculi's unwelcome guest, his expression changed, except Wayne's features molded into a mask of rage. This time, Crane did freeze, his pupils dilating noticeably with fear. Wayne, or rather, the Batman, Greed corrected, flew at Crane, pinning him to the ground, his hands closing around his throat. Lust's expression was that of euphoric triumph. Greed himself was undeniably pleased, but wondered what motivation Lust would have to bring the Batman here. She had obviously predicted this outcome. Either way, Greed wasn't going to interfere with the Scarecrow's murder, which, by the color of Crane's face, was sure to come quickly. It was Envy, who, with an exhausted sigh let his arm snake out, transforming into a vague imitation of his true arm, dark green, scaly, and huge. It grasped Wayne around the chest, and yanked him backwards. He didn't have time to cry out in surprise before his back slammed into the wall, and he slide down, dazed and disorientated, to the floor, his head slumped forward and his eyes half-closed.

Envy spared Crane a cursory glance. "Anything broken?" he asked.

Crane sat up, massaging his neck which was being to bruise. "Fine," he coughed, and Greed noted that the pain that he was presumably feeling did nothing but intensify the fiery glower that he was giving Lust.

Envy pulled back his arm, transforming it until it matched his other. "Why'd you bring him here?" he asked Lust, with a quick gesture to Wayne.

Lust's eyes sparkled with a cruel delight, though the rest of her face was, by now, molded into an impassive design. "I thought he could help us."

From the ground, Wayne stirred, his eyes opening, and he braced himself against the wall, forcing his body into a standing position. "What's the _Scarecrow_ doing here?" he growled, spitting out the name 'Scarecrow' as if it were a deadly virus.

Lust shrugged. "As you said, he's a target to. He's offered to pool our resources, and help us kill the man behind it."

Crane stood up, his eyes no longer fixed on Lust, but darting warily to Wayne. "Like she said."

Wayne looked livid, but he took in a long, steadying breath. "I suppose, from a certain standpoint, all risks aside, this makes… sense. Barely."

Lust smiled sarcastically. "Thank you. I appreciate the voice of confidence." She frowned, "Actually, I'm still surprised I'm a target. After all, I dropped the Dent/Batman case."

"But not officially," Envy reminded her.

"Wait," Wayne began, "Dent case?"

"Well, yes," Lust said, sounding uncertain, "He was the murder victim that got the most press, after all."

Wayne nodded, but his expression was cold. "I didn't kill him, I tried to stop him." he admitted, "He was the one who killed those people, not me."

Greed froze, considering. "Are you saying that someone was worried Lust would find that out?"

"I think that must be it. Wait- who's Lust?"

Lust shot Greed a glare, then said "I am. Lust is my real name. Jayd Talon is an alias."

Wayne stared at Lust for a second before Envy interrupted what Greed assumed was probably an interesting internal discussion, "So who would have the motive to want to hide the facts? Dent's dead."

Wayne paused, his eyes suddenly widening. "I think I may have an idea who."

"Well?" Envy asked impatiently.

"Do tell," Crane prodded.

"The Riddler."

"Who's that?" Lust asked.

"He was a man who the media dubbed the Riddler, but there wasn't a lot of press on him, so its not shocking that you wouldn't have heard of him.

"He kidnapped a young boy and demanded ransom from the parents via riddles. He told the parents to leave five thousand dollars at each of the five locations, where a riddle would be waiting, giving them the next location. While the parents and the police tried to figure out the riddles it bought him time to move around covertly. He warned them if they didn't leave the money the next location would have no riddle, and they would never find their child. The fourth location was supposed to be the last before they saw their child."

"Did they?" Envy asked.

Wayne held his gaze. "They found his body," he said at last.

"That's a fascinating little tale," Lust said, "But what does that have to do with Dent?"

"Dent was the one who was probably going to be assigned to his case. The captured the Riddler, but he managed to escaped before they even arrived at the jail. By then, the Joker was all the news and the Riddler suddenly became less of a priority. But," the Batman paused, "I think when Dent contacted him for help when-"

"When he went postal," Envy laughed, before stopping with a small smile at Wayne's expression. "Please continue."

"And I think he's afraid if the precise details of what really happened to Dent were ever unveiled, that could bring his case up to a more serious priority again. It might even reveal people who could be persuaded to turn him in, or his location, and maybe the activities the Riddler is involved in."

"That makes sense," Lust mused, "But if he's so good at hiding, how are we going to find him?"

"Hard work I suppose," Greed shrugged.

Envy turned to Crane. "Have you heard the name 'Riddler'?"

Crane shook his head. "No, but he's a very secretive individual, so that's not really surprising."

"How about the phone he spoke to you through? Can we track it?" Envy asked.

"It was a disposable cell phone. A different number every time, at least."

Greed sighed loudly. "We're going to have our hand full, aren't we?"

Wayne's lips turned ever-so-slightly upwards. "I think we already do."


	16. Chapter 16

A.N. Oh, hey, in the last chapter, when I said it was Nolanverse, what I meant in regards to the Riddler, was that in Nolanverse, the Riddler hasn't been introduced yet, so, basically, I can do whatever I want with him. Sorry if he isn't like the mainstream Batman, though….

"So," Envy began, "How exactly do we find this Riddler?"

Crane shrugged. "The Batman and Talon are looking into it."

"Oh sure," Envy exclaimed, drawing out the 'sure' to a ridiculous length, and rolling his eyes with exaggerated movements of his eyeballs, "What else could they be doing in Wayne's big, fat penthouse of his? I mean, other than the obvious?"

Crane scowled, "Honestly, I really don't care what that awful woman and the Bat are doing in their free time, as long as part of it involves trying to catch the lunatic who hired me in the first place."

Envy bared his teeth, glowering at the wall, "I care," he muttered, angrily, but also slightly desperately.

Crane examined him closely, his eyes narrowing in thought, "I forgot that she's your sister. Of course you'd be concerned." His voice was smooth and modulated- and Envy suddenly remembered Crane's former line of business.

Envy shook his head, "That's not it. Actually," he paused, his face reddening slightly, "As far as siblings go… we'll we Homunculus have a rather different view of etiquette there… just ask Greed…."

"Homunculus?" Crane's expression morphed into one of curiosity.

"Artificial human, " Envy stated carefully, "Or we were at least."

"What do you mean?" Crane's eyes reflected a worrisome calculation.

Envy drew in a deep breath, and began slowly, "In my world, where we're from, we were born as homunculi, creatures created from the seven deadly sins, and the souls of Xerxes contained in a philosopher's stone, which resided at our core. When the stone was destroyed, we were transported here, drained of our regenerative abilities. We're human now, apart from so, ah, small differences."

Crane raised an eyebrow at 'small differences' but asked, "Regenerative powers? Why did you lose those but not your other abilities?"

Envy shifted uncomfortably. This was toeing the line to guesswork with a little more confidence then he liked. "Our regenerative abilities came with the stone."

"Which was, presumably, a high-energy body."

"Correct." Envy grinned, "Man, doc, you sure catch on quick!"

"I'm not finished." Crane smiled slowly, "And then, perhaps, I can assume that this energy source being drained is what led to you arriving here?"

"Right again."

"So maybe, and this is just a theory, but could the stone have given one final burst of energy, one that may have been powerful enough to rip the fabric between our worlds apart, for a second, and thrust you into Gotham?"

Envy's eyes widened and his mouth hung open, before he snapped it shut. "That… that makes sense! A whole bunch of sense, doc!"

"Thank you."

"But then… why wasn't anyone else transporter here? Mustang was close to Lust, and me, so was Ed, and Riza Hawkeye…."

"You said the stone was at your core, right? Maybe it had to be, you know, inside you."

"That makes sense," Envy murmured to himself.

"The compliment is most appreciated."

Envy grinned. Crane really was smart, after all. And… very pretty, too, Envy supposed. In fact… Envy leaned marginally closer automatically, and noted with pleasure that Crane didn't withdraw, and then-

"Hey!" a homicidal-urges-inducing, loud and arrogant voice called out, ripping through the moment like an automail, diamond incrusted claw slicing through a previously pretty, now decimated, dress.

"I have never hated you more, Greed," Envy growled, standing up and stalking past him.

"Whoa, whoa," Greed laughed, "Did I interrupt something?"

"Well?" Crane asked Greed, "He's your brother. Shouldn't you know?" There was an amused, hard edge cut into his last sentence. "What are you doing, here, anyway?"

"If you waited for me to tell you…." Greed muttered with mock-frustration. "Envy!" he suddenly yelled, "Hey! Wait up! This is something you'll wanna hear!"

Envy stopped walking, and abruptly, reluctantly, spun around, fixing a dangerous snarl in place. "What is it?" he snapped.

"Come closer," Greed urged, trying with little success to hide the smile from his face.

Envy took a few, deliberate steps closer. "Yes?"

Greed chuckled. "Lust called. She sounded real excited to, possibly more excited than you'd be if I locked you and-"

"Greed…." Envy said, cutting him off and adding a warning note in his voice for good measure.

He sighed loudly, but his gloating smile remained, larger then Envy had ever seen it. "Fine. She says she might know the location of the Riddler. She and Wayne managed to pull up some information. She's run into a spot of trouble, but she said she'd met with us."

"So, basically, she won't," Envy surmised. "Fine. Where and when do we go?"

Greed grinned.

"I doubt I will ever forgive you, Batman," Lust smiled at Wayne, who was now suited in his dark armor. They were both surrounded by eleven men- almost a dozen, all armed. They had found the information about the Riddler, and Lust had been able to pass it onto Greed, but these men were obviously more loyal to the Riddler then Lust's informant had been.

Batman gave a short sound resembling a laugh. "After all the fun were having?"

"Got me there." Lust chuckled.

"Hands up!" One of the men barked, and Lust complied lifting her hands up and spreading her fingers, aiming each nail towards a particular man.

"Duck," she murmured to the Batman, and as soon as his chest touched the ground, Lust released her spears, and ten out of eleven of the men dropped their weapons, howling with pain. The remaining man fired twice at Lust, and she felt her shoulder being torn open, before she dropped to the ground, clutching her wound. The Batman jumped up, and punched the man in the jaw, then turned and elbowed him in the throat. The Batman slammed him into a brick wall, another punch, and the man collapsed. The Batman ran over to Lust.

"Are you all right?" he asked, gripping her arm.

"Yeah," Lust hissed, though the pain was tremendous. With the Batman's help, she rose to her feet, trembling despite herself.

"You need that looked at," Batman said. "Here, brace yourself against the wall. I'll help you bind it."

"I really hope Lust is coming," Envy murmured, examining the dark building looming in front of them.

"You really think the Riddler lives here?" Greed asked quietly.

"It's where Lust said he'd be."

"How should we enter?" Crane asked, pulling his mask over his face. "The front door?"

"Of course not," Greed scoffed.

"That was sarcasm, genius. And frankly, until you come up with something better…."

"Wait." Envy held up his hand. "I think I might know a way…." He pointed to a small window on the side of the building.

Greed shook his head. "To high."

Envy flashed a grin. He transformed himself into a small bird, and with a few flaps of his wings, he was off into the sky. He soared through the window, which was fortunately, devoid of glass, someone was clearly under the assumption that no one, not even the most skilled ninja-pirate out there, could climb that high. Envy landed in a dusty room, and transformed back into his favorite form. He peeked out the window, and saw Crane and Greed on the ground. He laughed softly, and left the room. Envy wandered around for quite some time, until the sound of voices drew him to a closed door. He pressed his ear against it.

"They said Talon wasn't alone."

"Well?" purred a dangerous, hard voice, "What does that mean?"

"Um… he says that Batman was with her."

"Batman… interesting. I look forward to meeting him. And Talon, too, hopefully."

"Sir?"

"You can leave."

"Yes, sir."

"Shit," Envy swore, leaping backwards as the door swung open. He pressed himself against the wall as a man walked past. "Damn it," he swore again, and the man glanced his way. Another curse and Envy threw himself forward, pinning the man to the ground, and thrusting an arm, transformed into a blade, through both his chest. A shot blast through the air, and Envy leapt sideways, twisting around. A tall, powerfully built man raised his hand, and, by default, his gun, firing again. Envy ducked, and spun around, launching himself into the air, transforming into the same small bird he had transformed into before, flapping away hastily to inform Greed and Crane that he had screwed up. 

The Riddler's lips curled into what was probably a twisted parody of a smile. "Well, now," he hissed under his breath, "It's seems that my former pawn and my slippery enemies have decided to join forces against me."

"Did you really expect anything less?" the voice behind him asked.

The Riddler laughed lowly. "I suppose not."

"And you've seen it?" the voice urged.

"Yes… they really aren't from this world, are they? Talon and her brother's, at least?"

"No," the voice said, and a figure stepped from the shadows. "But then again, neither am I."


	17. Chapter 17

A.N. Okay, two things. First, I'm sorry for the delay, but unfortunately, I'm probably only going to be able to get a chapter or so a week with school starting and all. Secondly, this chapter is also incredibly short, I know. It's a flashback chapter, just to explain what happened in the last chapter, and yes, the new character is from Amestris, but no, the new character is not Riza Hawkeye, Ling, Mei Chang, Roy, or Ed. Sorry. I'll also try to make the next chapters longer- this one is a bit of an aberration.

_His name was Mason Copper. He was twenty five years old, and he was a citizen of Amestris. In Amestris he had lived in Central for the majority of his life, starting with a career as a technician, branching out into alchemy. Copper earned his license as a State Alchemist at the young age of nineteen, and gaining the name _the Lightning Alchemist_, as his brand of alchemy allowed him to conduct electricity through metals, water, and even a human body. Mason's alchemy could have led him to becoming a high-ranked officer, but instead he devoted himself to unlocking some of the most dangerous alchemical secrets. Copper immersed himself in his studies, becoming more and more withdrawn every year, until he only appeared to renew his state license every year. Although Mason's work was seen by his higher-ups as relatively useless, Mason persisted, until one day he came across some ancient legends of the immortal who brought alchemy to Amestris, and the legendary philosopher's stone. Copper was instantly captivated, and devoted himself to solving the mystery of the stone. He left Amestris to travel to other parts of the world which had their own tales of the stone, and stumbled across the ruins of Xerxes. From there, he found his task relatively simple, and finally developed a philosopher's stone of his own, sacrificing a grand total of twenty-seven humans in the process. Copper additionally managed to discover the identity of the first homunculus, and when he returned to Central, all it took was a little more prying before he could find the other seven. Unfortunately for Copper, his travels had been unapproved, and his alchemic license had been revoked. The rest of the homunculi were also wary of Copper, but although they sensed something off about him, they were not able to pinpoint it. Although he was impressed by way the stone was able to amplify alchemy, he was still disappointed. With all the power the stone held, Copper was certain that its potential could be earth-shaking, and instead of revealing the stone to the military, Copper hid the stone and his findings, and focused on harboring the stone's full abilities. After another year or research, Copper finally made a breakthrough when he connected human transmutation and tales of the other side of the gate and the stone. If a part of a human was all the toll it took to cross over to the gate, then Copper reasoned that with all the souls he had inside his stone, he could punch through worlds. Unfortunately, while he found that harnessing the energy of the stone in one finally, shattering push of energy was one thing, it was another entirely as to how he was to get through as well. Copper decided that he would have to be in incredibly close proximity to the stone, say, it would have to be inside of his body. Copper drained the stone down and injected it into his body, quickly binding the wound and sending an electric current through his blood. It was all the push the stone needed, and he suddenly found himself being steadily consumed by a brilliant blue light, which was also eating away at the rest of the world. When Copper awoke, he found himself sick with fever, but otherwise his experiment had been a success. Thrilled, Copper had attempted to return to his world, but found he could not. The philosopher's stone could not be transmuted again without the proper transmutation circle, which Copper had incorrectly committed to memory after he had completed the first stone. Dismayed and furious by his own ineptitude, Copper had remained in Gotham city, and aligned himself with the criminal mastermind known as the Riddler, who was only too happy to employ both Copper and Copper's lethal talents. Copper had been assigned by the Riddler to tail a certain Jayd Talon, who Copper was astonished to note that he recognized as a homunculi. Suddenly eager and hopeful, Copper had revealed to the Riddler both his and the homunculi's origins. The Riddler had been unwilling to believe Copper, despite Copper's own abilities, until he witnessed another homunculi's skills first hand. The Riddler and Copper made a deal. They would bring down the homunculi, but Copper would be able to force their secrets out of them- especially the secrets concerning the philosopher's stone._


	18. Chapter 18

A.N. Woho! This chapter was out way earlier than I anticipated!

Lust stalked towards him. "Did you at least see what he looked like?"

"Of course I did," Envy replied sullenly.

"Of course," Greed mimicked in a sing-song trill, before reverting back to his ordinary tone of voice. "What do you mean 'of course'? As in, of course you blew it for the rest of us, crushing the element of surprise in one great big stomp of your feet?"

Crane, Envy, and Lust all turned to stare at Greed, all wearing uniform bafflement, confusion making them temporary allies.

Greed rolled his eyes dramatically, but his cruel, barely disguised smirk was anything but silly. "Don't pretend you don't know. Envy's true form? Oh- that's right!" Greed's eyes lit up with a cold malice that Envy rarely saw grace Greed's features. Part of him realized with a dull interest that Greed must really have been pissed about Envy's failure as a super-spy, while the other was processing with panic what Greed was about to do. Greed spared Envy a small smile at Envy's expression, before turning back to Crane and Lust, Crane in particular, continuing, "Envy's never told you, has he? That _that_ body," Greed gestured to Envy, "Is fake? A lie. Fabricated. An illusion." Greed's voice was slow and sweet, and Envy could tell he was enjoying this. "And that his real body, if you could even call it that, isn't even human? Homunculus- artificial human, more like artificial monster." Crane's expression was unchanged, but Envy doubted if Greed even cared. He wanted to lunge at Greed, to rip away and shatter the words that he knew were to come before they left his lips. But fear and anger had frozen him in place, and he could only listen to the words that were to condemn him.

"Greed…." Lust warned, but Greed shook her off.

"Maybe he'll show you himself," Greed growled, "Maybe not. Maybe he'll say that _that_ body is his true body. But you should know- I've only ever told a single lie, but Envy, and Lust, both make a living in deceit." With a smirk, Greed fell silent, and his face smoothed into neutrality, but his eyes locked on Envy's and glittered with delight.

"You asked for it," Envy accused, his voice low and furious, "I'll give it to you, as you requested." His body shivered, trembling, as a red light surged through his body, making his black hair stand on end. His eyes slitted, and he felt his body begin to increase in size.

"No!" Lust suddenly shouted, rage plain on her beautiful but contorted face. Her violet eyes narrowed. "Don't," she hissed at Envy, before facing Greed and glaring dangerously at him, the threat of violence very clear. "We need to stick together," she urged, "Don't do this. Either of you. Envy, you shouldn't have left like you did, but since you did, we might as well use the information you gained. What does he look like? Show us." Her voice was still angry, but there was a rather desperate note of pleading in it that Envy was unused to hearing from Lust.

"Alright," he finally conceded, breathing in deeply, and transforming into the Riddler. He was powerfully built, with short blonde hair and dark eyes that promised pain. His features were relatively handsome, but to cruel to ever really be appealing. His clothes were average, and there was a large scar across his left hand.

"That's the Riddler, huh?" Lust asked, her voice now a pretty, dangerous, silky murmur. She walked slowly around the Riddler, smiling faintly. "Nice to see you."

Envy forced a laugh that he hoped sounded genuine- as if Greed sudden and startling display of malice was something he had already forgotten. Envy supposed it could be worse, Crane could have looked disgusted, or repulsed. And hadn't he already admitted that the only part of him that was really his were his eyes, but not quite in those words. But Crane was a smart man, he reasoned, perhaps he had figured as much out for himself. Still, Envy couldn't help but glancing in Crane's direction, and was relieved to notice that Crane returned the expression with a cool stare. Envy transformed back into his favorite form, and frowned slightly. "I think there was someone else with him," he told Lust.

Lust appeared unconcerned. "Whoever he or she is, the Riddler is still our primary concern."

"And if they could be a real threat?"

"Then I'm certain they'll make their presence known to us very soon."

As if on cue, the door exploded, and a shadowed figure stepped in from the rubble, tugging on the white gloves laced with alchemic markings on his hands. "Found you," the figure laughed.

"Alchemy?" breathed Lust, and the man took hold of her confusion to dart forward, clapping his hands and smashing them against her. A sudden blue ripple of electricity came from the man's gloves and raced across Lust's body. She screamed, and her back arched, her eyes opening wide as she crumpled to the floor, tiny jolts of electric current still making her twitch and shiver. Greed ran over, coating his body with his shield, but the alchemist was too quick, and he dodged Greed's claws.

"I thought you said this world didn't have any alchemy!" Greed shouted to Envy.

"It doesn't!" Envy called as he transformed his arms into long, lance-like blades.

Greed was now was on the defense, trying to avoid the alchemists attacks. "He must be a homunculus or something!"

"Not likely!" It was the strange alchemist who spoke, "I'm not one of your freaks." He clapped and shot out his hands. One missed Greed, but the other one caught him a glancing blow, and Greed howled as electricity coursed through his arm. Leaping backwards, Greed growled.

"What do you mean by that?" he demanded, his breath ragged.

The alchemist laughed, pausing in his attack. "I've found the secret of the stone. I've punched through worlds!" Greed lunged at him, but the alchemist shocked him again, this time catching him full on the chest, and Greed fell to the ground.

"Interesting. I suppose your strange method of conducting electricity is some sort of talent natural in your land." It was Crane who had spoken, and Envy saw his mask was on his face.

"Not natural, exactly. I developed this particular technique. Are you homunculi? No, you're from this world."

Crane inched closer, and nodded to Envy, who transformed into a snake and began to slither across the ground. Closer… closer….

Crane raised his hand, paused, looking at his wrist before swearing. "Damn it! Where-" He glanced at the table where his fear gas contraption rested innocently, and swore again. "Sh-" The alchemist clapping his hands and his arm muscles tensed, clearly about to strike. But it was Envy who struck first, digging his fangs into the alchemist's ankle.

The alchemist screamed in pain, glancing down and shaking Envy loose. Envy transformed into a large dog, his teeth bared and his fur bristling. Crane used the opportunity to snatch his contraption, putting it on his wrist and holding it at the alchemists face. The alchemist's eyes flashed around the room, and he suddenly darted out the door.

Envy's fur relaxed, and he transformed back into his favorite form. "Coward."

Crane shrugged, pulling off his mask. "May I ask you something?" His eyes were curious and calculating.

"Shoot." Envy thought he knew what Crane was about to ask. "Is it about what Greed said?" He stared down at Greed's unconscious form, and Lusts, beside Greed.

"Yes. What did he mean. I have an idea, but-"

"What do I really look like?" Envy finished. He shrugged. "Like Greed said. A monster. Huge. Green. Not like any animal you've seen, I'll grant you that." He shrugged again. "I'd show you, but honestly there's not enough room in here."

Crane's eyes narrowed slightly, as if in thought. "Maybe later, then."

"Maybe." Envy bent down, pressing a finger against Greed's neck. His pulse was even and steady, and even as he watched, Greed began to awaken.

"Wha?" He slurred, sitting up.

"Check, Lust, please, Crane." But Lust was already awake.

She rubbed her head. "What was that?"

"An alchemist," Envy replied grimly.

"That alchemy… I've seen it before." Lust frowned, standing up, before her eyes flashed. "The Lightning Alchemist! It makes sense! He was an alchemist who we disbanded on suspicion he knew more than he was letting on. Remember?"

Envy nodded, "I think so."

Lust snarled, but her eyes sparkled. "The Lightning Alchemist," she mused, "I'll be looking forward to the next time we meet."


	19. Chapter 19

A.N. Sorry, but Copper wasn't designed to last. He was intended as a link from Gotham to Amestris, and to prove Crane and Envy's theory correct.

Wayne had never really enjoyed business meetings. Especially since this particular meeting sliced evenly through the time he had been preparing to find the Riddler. Ordinarily, it wouldn't have bothered him nearly so much, but these were unusual circumstances. Or, at least, an unusual woman involved. Lust was… very unusual. In fact, unusual was the perfect word to describe her. Other than that… he drew an unfortunate blank. Mysterious, perhaps. She had one of the most… unusual… names he had ever heard of, unless, of course, that too was an alias, as she claimed 'Jayd Talon' was. Pretty, certainly, what with her almost inhuman beauty, and… unusual… violet-hued eyes. And her power… or weapon, whichever it was that enabled her to shot daggers from her fingernails. He hadn't pressed her about it then, seeing as she was injured and exhausted, but he supposed some sort of weapon prototype wasn't too far out there. Still, it was… unusual. Wayne growled, causing all the people in his immediate vicinity to jump and stare at him as though he had lost his mind. He waved them off, and the meeting continued, leaving him to his thoughts. Yes, somehow, unusual was the word of choice when it came to Lust. A petty part of Wayne found it enormously unfair. He was used to being the more mysterious, strange partner in a relationship. His eyes widened, and he furiously backtracked, something else he was unaccustomed to. It seemed, even in his thoughts, Lust could throw him off. Anyway, he hadn't meant _relationship relationship_. He had been referring to a… friendly relationship. One of coworkers, or close acquaintances. Even if she was utterly breathtaking. And intelligent. And frustrating beyond reason and more infuriating then the natural laws of logic and equivalency would ordinarily dictate. And how had she found out who he was in less than two days? Was that even possible? Well, it was one puzzle he didn't expect to solve. Either way, he figured Lust owed him some answers. If he was going to find the Riddler for her, it was only reasonable that she be forthcoming with him. He shook his head, and reminded himself that he wasn't finding the Riddler for _her_, he was to bring in the Riddler for the good of Gotham. He nodded quickly, getting a few more odd looks, and stood up.

"Gentlemen," he announced, earning a few glowers from the woman in the meeting, "I'm afraid something extremely urgent," _and vexing_, "has come up. Please feel free to continue with the exictin- er, inte- er, meeting. I'll have one of you bring me up to date when I return. Thank you." He left the room quickly, before anyone could regain their balance and starting shooting questions and protests at him.

He had then travelled to his cave underneath the former Wayne Manor. (It was still being rebuilt). From there, he had changed into his suit. Assuming his 'Batman' guise, he had started to scout out the parts of town he guessed the Riddler might frequent. As he flew into a recently deserted alley, he heard a scratching sound behind him, and whirled around, shocked that someone had been able to sneak up on _him_. Frankly, it was embarrassing.

The person now facing him was young, slim and of average height, with bronze colored hair, and dark, coldly curious eyes, that, although unnerving, seemed to pose no threat of their own. He didn't seem to be armed, and his garb wasn't the kind to stand out, apart from a pair of brilliant white gloves, decorated with odd symbols and words. Reassured that this man did not seem to be dangerous, the Batman moved to dart away, but the man called out, "Wait."

It was his tone of voice that froze the Batman. Bored and cold, mixed in with an undercurrent of excited anticipation. Chilling. Batman turned. "What?" he growled, hoping to scare off the man.

The man did not appear to be intimidated. Rather, he smiled, a bright, sweet smile that was made to disorient. And it did. Caught off balance, the Batman allowed himself a slow blink, and the man rushed forwards, clapping his hands.

Instincts kicking into gear, the Batman dodged the man's first lunge. The man whipped around again, but his moves were uncoordinated and lacked much strength, and the Batman allowed him to land a blow, intending to grab onto his wrists and then shake some sense into the man, who was obviously delusional. However, as soon as his gloves grazed his suit, and sharp shock raced through him. He dropped like he had been tased, moaning as excess current shoot through his limbs. Another shock. As the Batman began to loss himself into unconsciousness, the man smiled at him.

"You'll lead me to the homunculus," he proclaimed, his sick smile widening.


	20. Chapter 20

A.N. This is the last chapter of Homunculus Gotham. Thank you guys so much for the reviews, and sticking with me to here. XD

"Batman…," A soft voice crooned, "Oh, Baaaat-man."

For a split second of sheer terror Batman thought it was the Joker, who had somehow gained access into his home- and he bolted upright, muscles tightening, preparing for a fight. A brilliant light assaulted his eyes, and he blinked, waiting in pained, dazed, confusion for the floating specks of colors to clear. When they eventually did, he saw he was in a small room, which was completely unremarkable in design. White, peeling paint on the walls, dark floor, no decorations or furnishings aside from the chair he was uncomfortably tied to. And his mask… he spotted it a second later, in the hands of a man with a strong, handsome face and cruel, dark eyes. Beside him was a younger man, slightly more feminine in appearance, with a shock of reddish-brown hair the color of rust, and shining eyes that reflected nothing but their own madness. Batman groaned as the memory hit him in a rush similar to the younger man's lightning-current hands.

The younger man's eyes flared with something close to delight as he seemed to notice the recognition on the Batman's face.

"Remember me?" he asked quietly, "Mason Copper, at your service." He grinned.

"And that?" the Batman asked roughly, gesturing to the man who had not yet spoken in as much as he could with his head.

"I believe the name I go by here is Riddler." He gave a sick smile, and caressed the Batman's mask. "I ask you to introduce yourself as well- politeness dictates as such- but I believe I've seen your face somewhere." He frowned, with mock confusion, "Brent? No, Bob? Something with a B, I'm sure. Bruce!" He snapped his fingers, furrowing his brow, then his face cleared and he grinned. "Wayne. Bruce Wayne. I'm surprised. Shocked, to be fair to you. Bruce Wayne, the Batman? Now riddle me that, huh?"

"Riddle whatever the hell you like, you monster," the Batman growled, "But you're not getting anything out of me."

The Riddler threw back his head and laughed. It was a darker, colder laugh then the Joker's maniacal fits of hysteria. More calculating. Like the Riddler himself, he supposed. The Riddler himself wasn't nearly as erratic as the Joker had been. But he was still dangerous. A monster.

It was Copper who spoke. "Little Mr. Bat," he began, "Who said we wanted anything out of you? It's Miss Lust and the other freaks who're going to help me- us. They've got the secrets and as far as you-"

His miniature tirade was cut off by a loud bang, and smoke filled the air. Batman coughed despite himself, and when it cleared Copper was lying on the ground, a giant hole in his chest. Batman's eyes immediately leapt to try and find the Riddler's enemy, an ally perhaps. But all he discovered was the Riddler, his fingers still curled around the trigger of a large gun. The Riddler replaced the gun, putting it back into the recesses of his jacket, and toed Copper's body. "Very annoying man," he commented. "Stupid, too, for someone so smart. Or maybe he was just desperate." He glanced up at the Batman, "What do you think?"

"What do you want?"

"I want access to all of Gotham's networks. I want everything this city has to offer. I'm going to run it dry and then discard its mangled husk. Unfortunately for me, for a year or two, there's been you. The Batman. The mystery man, hm?" He walked over, and jerked the Batman's chin up, forcing him to stare into the Riddler's cold, hard gaze. "I was curious about you Batman," he admitted, "You fascinate me. What I wouldn't give to possess the technology you have access to. You absolutely fascinate me. So I won't deny that I'm curious about you. But afraid? Not so much."

"Then why have you been hiding for so long?" the Batman hissed up at him, and the Riddler shrugged.

"I'm a bit unhealthily fond of the dramatic element. Like I imagine you're a little unhealthily fond of Miss Talon. I tried to have her killed, you know?"

The Batman snarled, and the Riddler cracked a small grin.

"If I'd shown myself… again… during the Joker's little games, I would hardly have been known, would I?" The Batman strained against his ropes to no avail, and the Riddler continued, "I need fear; I need to be known, and feared. Like you. Like the Scarecrow, although I think his own interests in fear were for an altogether different purpose. But if people are afraid of me they will be more malleable. More inclined to bend to my will. It will be that much easier to accomplish my goals, to get what I want. Smart, right? But once again, I predicated you'd stand in my way. I'd have to take you out of course. But now there are new variables. Namely, Talon and her brothers, along with a rather unexpected ally." The Riddler flashed a nasty smile, "I bit you just about jumped out of your skin when you found out they had sided with Crane."

Batman growled again, refusing to answer.

"Well," the Riddler said, carefully setting Batman's helmet on his lap. "I think we should take them out of the equation, too, don't you think? You'll be the bait."

Lust threw the phone to the ground in a fit of frustration. "Do you know how many times I've tried to call him?"

"How many?" Greed asked, humoring her.

She glared at the inert phone, lying harmlessly on the ground. "Ten times."

"I feel for you," Greed deadpanned, remembering how he himself had spent countless hours trying to reach the Batman.

Another glare, this one aimed at him. He broke gaze, avoiding contact with her lethal, beautiful eyes. Femme Fatal. A phrase from this reality, and one he found perfectly described his homunculus sister. Yet somehow the knowledge of that fact, that he could articulate it, only served to further irritate him. Especially as three sharp raps sounded near the edge of the apartment. He spun around, convinced that Lust had stabbed the wall. However, he found that she too, was looking accusingly at him, and her fingernails were indistinguishable from those of a humans.

"Hey!" Lust and Greed both jumped at the sound of a familiar, yet half-forgotten voice behind their door. "Hello!" the feminine sound came again, "Miss Boss Lady and her cute brother! HELLO! I know you're in there, people, hurry it up." A sudden pounded sounded again. "Come on! Hello!"

Lust sighed in equal parts annoyance and relief. "Stacy."

Greed resisted a tiny grin, both at her discomfort and Stacy's presence, and ripped open the door, revealing the familiar sight of a panting, red-faced Stacy.

"My knuckles hurt," she complained, pushing past him and entering. She made a beeline to Lust, who stared at her as if she was from another planet.

"Stacy?" she asked curiously.

"Who?" Envy asked, dancing inside, and grinning at the girl. "Hello. We heard, um…."

"Screaming," Crane filled in, coming up beside him. "Loud, obnoxious, feminine screaming."

"And we assumed it was you," Envy finished, still smiling at Stacy. "But I guess it wasn't."

Lust lips flattened into a hard line, and her jaw twitched slightly. "No. It was my rather rude and idiotic assistant. What are you doing here?" she asked, directing the question to Stacy.

Stacy straightened up and gulped in a deep breath of air. "Helping you," she said, "I think."

"You think?" Lust asked, her words dripping with sarcasm, "Stacy, you may not have noticed, but were sort of hosting a dangerous, wanted criminal right now. This isn't exactly the best time. In fact, I think you should leave _right now_ before I'm seriously tempted to kill you. Stacy."

Stacy waved her hand around in a gesture of forced carelessness. "Whatever!" she declared, and then blushed, lowering her face, "No offense Boss-Lady. And, um, no offense but I really can't go. Because I think that there are people after you."

Greed perked up, suddenly interested. "Continue, please."

Stacy bit her lip, "Um, I was at the office, trying to explain to Mr. Dean why you weren't at work, and then these guys came in and asked us if we knew where you lived. They said you were wanted for questioning in some sort of investigation. And I said no, but I lied, and then I made some excuses to Mr. Dean, who, by the way, is probably going to fire you, and then ran here. On the way out of the office I think I heard some other guys say they had the Batman at some warehouse. But I kept running here. Really fast." She gasped for breath, sucking at the air. "Please don't kill me," she added.

"No, Stacy," Lust said, her eyes sparkling, "Excellent work." She faced Greed, face shining, "That's why we haven't been able to contact the Batman!" she exclaimed, "He's being held hostage!"

Greed mumbled something about her coming to that conclusion suspiciously easy, but if she heard him, she ignored him. "Envy, Scarecrow, Greed," she called. Scarecrow glowered at her, and Envy redirected his attention towards Lust. Greed sighed under his breath, and muttered something else about nobody listening to him, and that that was a damn shame, since he knew a few things about hostage situations. Although admittedly, he wasn't exactly the expert, he conceded to himself. Returning his attention to Lust, she continued, "Batman's being held at the same warehouse we originally visited. Since Envy's been inside, it won't be too hard to do so again."

"This is a terrible idea…." Greed murmured.

And of course it was. The sinking feeling in his stomach only increased as they travelled through the maze of a warehouse with next to no trouble, even finding a willing minion who was eager to trade information for his life. Not his sanity however, as he was soon writhing on the ground, choking on Fear Gas. From there, Greed and the others went down to the basement area, the darkness in the air almost a tangible presence, weighing on them heavily.

"Hold on," Greed warned with a hiss, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

None of his siblings spared him even a small glance, but Scarecrow gave him what he assumed was an apologetic shrug, though it was hard to tell with a psychotic murderer wearing a badly-woven scarecrow's mask.

"Guys," Greed repeated, "Think about this for a second."

"There!" Lust pointed to a small door which was filtering out a bright light. Aiming her nails at it, she loosed her spears, tearing them through the door. She withdrew them, and the door collapsed on itself. She grinned triumphantly at Greed, gesturing at a dark figure slumped on a chair, and stepped through. There was a muffled yelp, a rustling of metal, and then the distinctive cocking of a gun. Greed drew his armor around himself, and rushed into the room, Envy and Scarecrow close behind him.

A tall man with cold eyes stood behind Lust. Her hands were pinned behind her back at an angle that rendered her impotent, and there was a gun at her throat. "If you move," the man warned, "Miss Talon here will find herself suddenly without several major veins." He smiled, and then added, "Really, you shouldn't test me. Power down," he teased, and Greed clenched his fists in defiance, but withdrew his shield from his flesh.

"Isn't this interesting?" he asked, then continued conversationally, "I was surprised you'd be here this fast. I assumed you'd at least take a little time to consider your options. I suppose Miss Talon was simply overly eager to rescue the Batman. Either way, my dear Stacy certainly did her job well."

"Who are you?" Crane asked.

"Riddler."

"Not one with the jokes though, huh?" Envy asked, inching forwards.

Riddler shook his gun. "Don't move again."

Envy froze.

"No!" Lust cried, trying to pull herself free, "Don't worry about me! Get the Batman you bast- Mmf!" The Riddler adjusted his grip on her to cover her mouth, and he frowned. "I'm beginning to think you're not taking this very seriously. Maybe I should make my point very clear." His finger twitched on the trigger, and Greed, Envy and Crane came to a silent consensus.

Envy and Crane ran towards Batman, Envy transforming his arm into a blade, trying to slice through the Batman's restraints, while Greed lunged at the Riddler, catching him on his arm and jerking him around. The Riddler lost his grip on Lust, and she fell to the ground, banging her head against the floor and falling unconscious.

"Lust!" Batman called. With a glance, Greed could see that his restraints were halfway off. The Riddler punched Greed in the face, and he fell back, groaning. His lip was bleeding, and the pain persisted, his flesh unable to heal. Another punch, this one directed towards his gut. He doubled over, gasping for air, as two more punches assaulted him in rapid succession. He tried to muster the concentration to draw up his shield, but found himself distracted by the steadily increasing pain. And then, sudden, the Riddler was yanked away from him, as he and the Batman traded blows.

Greed crawled over to Lust, shaking her. She moaned, her eyelids fluttering, and he sighed in relief as she opened her eyes, her gaze focused. "Greed… what's happening? What happened to you?"

"Batman and the Riddler are fighting," he explained shortly, "Can you stand?"

"I think so." Lust braced herself against the wall, and shakily stood. Greed stood as well, and they both turned to watch Batman and Riddler. The Batman was faster and more experienced then the Riddler, but the Riddler seemed stronger, and his blows were well aimed.

"Can you get a shot at him?" Greed asked Lust, who was watching the fight.

She shook her head. "I don't want to try and end up killing them both."

"My, you've certainly changed," Envy said, coming up with Crane behind them. "But we can't help out either."

"I could always blast them both with Fear Gas and give the Batman the antidote," Crane offered, but Greed shook his head.

"To dangerous."

"Wait," Lust breathed, as Batman caught the Riddler's fist in his hand. "Turn him towards me!" she yelled, and the Batman twisted the Riddler, pushing him towards Lust, who shot her point-finger-nail outwards, spearing the Riddler through the chest. She withdrew her nail, and he slumped to the ground, blood staining the floor, collating in scarlet pools.

Lust's knees buckled, and the Batman rushed to her side, catching her before she could fall.

"We did good," he told her, and she grinned up at him, kissing him lightly.

"It's a start."


End file.
